


This Path I've Taken

by EmptyHead



Series: Extracurricular Activities [5]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-02-07 05:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18614140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptyHead/pseuds/EmptyHead
Summary: "With great power comes great responsibility," Michelle tests the words out.  She was never a big fan of the phrase because it always prompted Peter to take on far more of a burden than she wanted him to carry, but that's just the kind of person he was.  Now, after everything that has happened, she thinks she understands it better.  She's not sure if her power counts as "great", but she did not act when she may have had the capability to help and now everyone she's ever cared about has turned to dust.  Maybe she can make it up to all the people she let down this way.  If she works hard at it and helps protect their reality, maybe someday she'll feel like she deserves forgiveness.Someday.Part 5 of my AU in which Michelle learns the Mystic Arts.  Will be using parts of Endgame canon so be advised that this contains some level of spoilers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Endgame spoilers. There aren't any in chapter 1 (just a logical extension of Infinity War), but they'll happen.

Michelle Jones isn't sure how she got home. There's a big blank space in her memory between when half of the universe turned to dust and now. The only thing she can recall is staring at all the wall for hours, dead to the world, with the sound of screaming about the end of days and crying coming from the various apartment units near her. How long has it even been? Hours? Days? The only things she knows right now are the feeling of being a complete failure and the belief that she may have just lost much more than her heart can take. Voicemails were left and texts were sent to everyone she knows, trying to confirm if they're still alive, but no one has responded.

There's a saying that it's not the fall that kills you. It's the impact. That's roughly how Michelle thinks she feels right now. She's falling, but doesn't see the ground yet.

The next time she has conscious thought, she finds that she has been blankly looking at the television, which has done nothing but play the emergency broadcast signal ever since the incident. A quick check reveals that it is now Sunday morning, the day after the event. Unwilling to accept the idea that so much has been taken from her, Michelle grabs a notebook from her school supplies and rips out a piece of paper. On it she makes a list containing the names of everyone she's ever cared about.

First, she digs up the phone number for the hotel in Seattle that her parents were staying at and calls it. Busy signal. Dragging a hand over her face, Michelle forces herself to not think the worst and moves on. It's possible that there is just no service in the area. There are reports of planes and helicopters literally falling out of the sky due to the pilots vanishing so phone service going out isn't too far out of the question.

As captain of the Academic Decathlon team, Michelle has everyone's address and contact info. Using that, she starts to map out a plan. She's going to just go to their homes directly and see who is left.

 

 

 

If Michelle wasn't already emotionally devastated before, going outside was absolutely soul wrenching. Car wrecks block roads as far as the eye can see. Mass transit is completely shut down. Looters are on every corner and no one tries to stop them. The few outside that aren't involved wander the sidewalks with blank faces and eyes. Michelle thinks she might look the same. A few begin preaching in the streets for various religions. Screams from parents calling for their missing children haunt her every step.

Her first stop is to find May. If she's still around, she might be beyond freaked out about Peter. She knocks on the door when she arrives, but there is no answer. Looking around, Michelle finds a hidden maintenance room that she slips into and discreetly makes a portal right into the apartment. Inside, she hears the sound of a TV still playing the emergency broadcast signal near the kitchen. She heads over there and finds a single cup of cold coffee on the table. In a chair next to it is a pile of ash and dust. Closing her eyes and taking some long, pained breaths, Michelle moves on.

~~May Parker~~

Ned's place isn't too far so she goes there after. The moment she knocks on the door, it almost immediately opens and the faces of his parents appear with eyes full of desperate hope. When they realize she isn't their son, Michelle watches as their spirits are crushed before she even says a word.

~~Ned Leeds~~

The shout of a young child is heard when Michelle rings the doorbell at Cindy's home, “Mom! Dad! You're back!” The door opens and reveals a boy no more than 8 or 9 years old. She had no idea that Cindy had a younger brother.

Fearing the question she's about to voice, Michelle asks, “I'm a friend of Cindy's. Is she home? Are your parents here?”

The boy shakes his head. “I was taking a nap and when I woke up they were all gone. I'm waiting for them to come home,” he says resolutely, as if it were a statement of fact.

Michelle feels her mouth open and close several times wordlessly while her mind races in despair. Fuck, how is she supposed to tell a child his entire family is dead? It's not like she can leave him here alone anyway. It's not safe and he'll need food-

“Excuse me,” comes a voice to her side. It's a middle aged woman that she doesn't know. “I live next door and am taking care of him. Who are you?”

Oh thank god. At least someone is taking care of the child. “Michelle Jones. I was looking for Cindy, but...” she trails off. At the older woman's shake of her head, Michelle lets out a shuddering breath. “Okay. Thanks.”

~~Cindy Moon~~

After walking a distance away, Michelle sits down on the edge of the curb and pulls her knees in to rest her forehead on them before bursting into tears. Even in her darkest fears, the reality she's living in keeps shaping up to be even worse. The realization that there are now likely a couple hundred million orphaned children is staggering. And she didn't even try to stop it.

The girl knows she's essentially torturing herself at this point, but she has to continue on. Maybe this is her punishment for running away. To see the devastation first hand and to watch the hope fade from their eyes as they realize she isn't the one they're looking for.

The list goes on and on until nearly every single person is crossed off. All of them. Abe, Charles, Sally, and even Flash. All of them. All that's left are just her parents and Peter.

She pulls out her phone and tries to call them again and the hotel they're staying in, but the call can't get through. Desperate to know that she hasn't lost everything, Michelle looks up the address and map, then portals herself to Seattle. The fact that she'd have to explain to them how she got there doesn't matter to her anymore.

Once inside the hotel, she sees a single horribly disheveled and broken man in the lobby with a stack of paper. Seeing no one else around, she walks up to him and asks, “Do you work here? I'm looking for two people staying here.”

The man looks up and with a dead and emotionless voice, he answers, “We already checked the rooms and are trying to get it reported to the police.” No wonder why he looks so broken. He spent the day the same way she has by checking to see who is still alive. “Who are you looking for?”

“Last name of Jones.”

He flips through some pages, then looks up and her and simply shakes his head and says, “I'm sorry.”

Michelle turns around and walks away, feeling like she's just been punched in the stomach. She manages to hold herself together for a full twenty seconds after returning home before falling apart.

If she was falling before, she thinks she just hit the ground.

 

 

 

Michelle wakes with her head still on the kitchen table, having cried herself to sleep last night after confirming the death of her parents. She can barely muster the motivation to stand. It just feels like there's no point. Everyone is dead. Why the hell is she still alive?

A quick check of what news is available reveals the world going to shit. Rioting has started in some countries because no explanation has been given as to why their loved ones are gone. The governments of the world are either unwilling to answer because of how crazy the truth is or they're just as in the dark as everyone else. Considering how quickly everything has happened, Michelle assumes it's probably the latter.

One of her neighbors knocks on her door to see if someone was still in the apartment because the others are going around and looting the units that no longer have people living in them. The casualness with which the news is dropped is so shocking that she just shuts the door in their face and starts to darkly laugh at the absurdity of the world she now lives in. It's like she's fallen through a twisted version of the looking glass. These people that she knows, good people, are now talking about stealing the possessions of dead people like they're talking about the weather.

She can't stay here. In the back of her mind she's always kind of known that. The food and money she had allocated for a grocery budget is going to run out eventually and it's not like she has access to her parent's bank accounts. How would she pay the rent? While she's nearly 17 years old, she's still technically a minor. She's going to be taken in by CPS or something eventually, but who knows if they'll ever manage to work through the backlog of half the universe going up in smoke. Is the government even still functioning?

Michelle grabs her bag and dumps its contents out on the floor. A lot of it seems completely useless to her now. Tossing out all of her school supplies, she refills it with things that she would take on a trip. A couple highly compacted changes of clothes, all the money she has left, her laptop, etc. It's practically bulging at the seams. As she prepares to leave, her eyes take note of a glint from the table next to her bed. It's the pendant she got for Christmas resting on top of the list of names she wrote. Only a single name remains uncrossed: Peter Parker.

Grabbing the list, she shoves it into her bag and carefully puts on the pendant. Michelle takes one more look around her apartment and heads out to the only place that might be able to take her in: The New York Sanctum.

 

 

 

The roof still isn't fixed and the sun shines brightly through the large hole. Carefully moving around the damaged staircase, Michelle heads upstairs to the back to see if there is anyone here.

"Hello?" she calls out as she heads toward the back rooms. The display room with various artifacts is a lot emptier than she last saw it. Judging by the piles of dust and ash on the ground, Michelle assumes they must have been "killed" as well. Relics are sentient on some level after all so maybe they counted as being alive. It almost seems like some kind of cosmic joke that so many people are gone, but she got to keep her magic boots.

“Michelle?” comes a voice. It's Wong. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

_I'm running away again. I'm running away from the world._

"I don't," Michelle tries to say before the words die on her lips. "I don't have anywhere else to go." Without even being prompted, the story spills out of her like a waterfall. Her parents are dead. Her friends are dead. The world outside is effectively in a state of chaos and she doesn't know what to do.

With eyes so full of understanding, Wong takes a slow step next to her and pats her gently on the back. "Come. Let's get you to a bed," he says.

The two of them step foot in Kamar-Taj a few minutes later. While it is night here due to the time difference, it seems more ominous than in her memories. Entire sections of the complex seem unused. Wong takes her to the old dorm room she once stayed in when she was first here so long ago. Everything is exactly as she left it, but it's different now. Where she was once unsure how she fit in here because of how normal her life was, she now feels just as lost and broken as the rest.

Glancing down the hallway, Michelle notices the extensive number of rooms left empty. She had forgotten that half of the sorcerer order was probably lost as well. When she first came here, she had estimated that there were maybe twenty members. That would leave roughly ten left. Staring into the darkness, she asks Wong "How many are left?"

"Including you? There are nine of us remaining. Leadership is being handled by myself, but beyond that the rest are three apprentices and five novices."

Only a single master remains unless Strange is still alive in space which Michelle holds no illusions of possibly being the case. He would never willingly give up the Time Stone and Wong assuredly knows it too. Novices are the rank she was when she first started and are signified with white robes. They are the people who are still learning how to channel magic and are unable to cast a spell. That means only four people here can even use magic anymore of widely varying skill levels.

"So if you're guarding the New York Sanctum, who are in the other two?" Michelle asks. If there is only one person higher ranking than her...

"Two apprentices less skilled than you," Wong bluntly answers. "Get some sleep. We will talk again tomorrow." He turns to leave and the fading sounds of his footsteps are all that remains.

Stepping into her room, Michelle closes the door and sits down on her bed to think. If Wong is correct about the people handling the other Sanctums, then that effectively makes her the second most powerful sorcerer still on Earth. She certainly doesn't feel like it.

“What do I do now?” she questions the empty room around her, wishing the darkness could give her the answer.

 

 

 

Wong comes by to lead a group session for the novices. Dressed in her normal clothes rather than her crimson robes designating her rank, Michelle declines to join and goes over to the side where she sits down on the ground and leans her back against the wall, opting to just watch. He guides them through practices on how to make a portal and it brings back almost fond memories. Things were simpler back then. One of the novices succeeds and they all take a moment to congratulate him. Despite their heavy losses, the camaraderie is strong. Life is ever so slowly beginning to continue on and it's leaving her behind.

After they finish, Wong comes over and sits down on the ground next to her. "Why did you bring me here?” Michelle asks.

"Hmm?" Wong hums back.

She lays her guilt out on the table, "I just- I don't feel like I deserve this. I ran away from the fight. Why are you helping me?"

"It is my understanding that you did exactly as Stephen wanted you to,” he counters evenly. “He is the one who sent you away."

That's true. "Maybe," Michelle says, looking aside. "I let myself down though. I let the world down. How can I look my friend's parents in the eye and tell them that I might have been able to help stop it, but didn't try?"

Wong doesn't answer for a long time. "I also failed quite pitifully," he eventually says. Michelle is slightly surprised to hear it. He's never mentioned his side of what happened. "The one Stephen and I faced had advanced telekinetic ability. All he did was break a fire hydrant and the burst of water caused me to fall and hit my head. You are not alone in feeling this way. All we can do is try and pick ourselves back up and do the best we can."

She looks at Wong. He's usually so serious and stoic. The fact that he has been able to carry on despite that guilt is something else. Michelle wishes she could be that strong. "How do you do it?" she asks quietly.

"You do it for those who are left. You do it because the attacks on our reality will not stop if you quit. You do it because the world will not defend itself," he explains.

The two of them sit in silence together for a while longer before Wong gets up. He leaves with a warning, "I must return to the Sanctum. Do not let this grief swallow you whole, Michelle. There will be nothing left of you but a husk."

Intellectually, he's right. She just doesn't know how to move on like that or if she even has a right to.

The rest of the day and much of the night is spent with Michelle remaining in the same spot, lying on the ground and looking up at the stars while dreaming of what could have been. Flashing through her mind are images of herself holding up another Academic Decathlon trophy with her friends for a competition they had coming up or quiet nights in the Parker home with everyone lounging around while she reads and listens to their idle chatter. She imagines what might have come of her relationship with Peter.

Michelle used to read a lot of fairy tales as a little girl. A dragon was slain, a princess was saved, and everyone lived happily ever after. All her life, she's wanted her own happy ending and she thought she had finally started getting there.

But that life just isn't in the cards for her anymore. It's been washed away with the tide.

Feeling her eyes start to water again, Michelle thinks she's about to start spiraling in her own anguish when suddenly her phone starts ringing.  She's so wrapped up in her misery that she doesn't register it at first. It's an alien sound. The concept of someone calling her is foreign because who the hell is even left that it could be? A glance at the number reveals one that she isn't familiar with. Mildly curious and with nothing better to do, Michelle answers. “Hello?” she asks while trying to stifle her tears.

“Is this Michelle Jones? It's Bruce Banner. Are you there?”

What the hell? How did he even get her number? “Yeah,” she weakly answers. “That's me. Where did you get this number from?”

“I'm going through Tony's files and doing a roll call. He had you marked down as a 'Person of Interest'.”

Person of Interest. Hah. She feels nothing like the powerful sorceress she once pretended she could be when she was first starting out. Frankly, she feels like a scared child in a thunderstorm. Like she's trying to curl up under the blankets as if it could shut out the world. “Well, I'm still alive. Whatever that's worth. So is Wong.”

Banner sounds utterly defeated, “You're actually the only one I've been able to reach.”

Hesitantly, Michelle asks the question that's been burning on her mind, "Can you tell me what happened in Wakanda?" She needs to know if she could have made a difference there. Is this all her fault for not trying?

A sigh comes from the other end of the line. Maybe she shouldn't be pressing it because he probably doesn't want to talk about it. "We never stood a chance. Thanos walked all over us except for Thor."

She blinks, "I thought you said he was dead."

Banners slight shrug is practically visible, "I'm not sure on the story. He hasn't been in much of a talking mood."

On one hand, she feels a little better that she probably wouldn't have been able to help much. On the other, celebrating the fact that it's not directly her fault half of the universe is dead seems completely beside the point. "What are you going to do now?"

"We don't really know yet. The obvious answer is that if we could get the Infinity Stones ourselves, we might be able to bring everyone back, but..." the man trails off.

"You'd have to beat Thanos first and he has the power to kill a trillion lives in the blink of an eye," she finishes for him.

"Exactly."

They're both silent for a time until Banner speaks up, "Listen, do you mind if I keep your number handy? We might need your help at some point and I'd like to talk to you more about this thing you do."

There's a part of her that wishes she could be back in school, even if it was empty. Back there she could be her usual confident self. She could wear her mask that made her feel like she could be in control of everything and lead her teammates to victory. That mask is nowhere to be found right now.

“Why me?” she asks with a quiet voice. “We both know I didn't go with you because I chickened out. I didn't do anything. I'm just- I'm nobody.”

Banner sighs again after a time, unsure entirely of what to say, “I'm not really the right person for a pep talk - frankly, none of us are right now - but it's largely because of you that we even had a chance at all. If we took the Quinjet to Wakanda, we wouldn't have made it there before they attacked. We'd just be a wreck in the ocean. And that thing Tony was fighting? You're the only one who actually did anything to it. Even the Hulkbuster armor couldn't beat it in a straight fight.” He pauses for a moment, “You have some unique abilities that we could use right now.”

She hadn't conjured any weapons or cast any powerful spells that day. All Michelle did was create a Mirror Dimension gateway and a few portals, but that's enough for Bruce Banner to say that she almost saved the world. It's a weird feeling for people to have faith in you even when you don't have faith in yourself. It's even weirder if one of them can turn into a giant green monster that can level a city.

“Sure,” she eventually says. “Just not right now. I need time.”

“I understand.”

He's about to disconnect when she has a thought, “Wait, have you gotten any kind of signal from those that went into space?”

“Ah, no.” Mercifully, the man doesn't say anything else.

"Can you let me know if you hear anything about it?"

"I can do that," Banner answers.

The two of them hang up and Michelle sighs, trying to figure out her next step. God, what is she even planning on doing here? Freeloading until they kick her out? It's obvious how understaffed they are. Now that Wong has left, there's literally no one here to help teach the others for the rest of the day. It's only a matter of time before he brings it up with her. Is she just going to say no?

From a pocket, Michelle pulls out her list and looks at the one name left uncrossed.

_Are you still out there, Peter? What would you do in my position?_

Actually, that's a dumb question. She knows exactly what he'd do. He'd jump right on in like an idiot and help out without even knowing what he was agreeing to. After they had first started dating, there were some tense moments where the two of them had argued about how much he was going out as Spider-Man. It was affecting his grades, his attendance at the Decathlon meetings, and she felt like she was just getting blown off. Ned had privately agreed with her, but didn't want to be the one to call Peter out on it. It took a while, but with May's help, they were able to get him down to more realistic patrol hours. The part of it that strikes her now isn't that, but rather the counter argument that he would use. It was a motto of some kind that he picked up from his uncle.

"With great power comes great responsibility," Michelle tests the words out. She was never a big fan of the phrase because it always prompted Peter to take on far more of a burden than she wanted him to carry, but that's just the kind of person he was. Now, after everything that has happened, she thinks she understands it better. She's not sure if her power counts as "great", but she did not act when she may have had the capability to help and now everyone she's ever cared about has turned to dust. Maybe she can make it up to all the people she let down this way. If she works hard at it and helps protect their reality, maybe someday she'll feel like she deserves forgiveness.

_Is this how you felt when your uncle died? I think I get it now. I think I finally understand why you always tried so hard to save everyone._

 

 

 

The next morning, Michelle steps into the training area alone and begins her full routine. Given the events of the past week, it has been some time since since she's had any real practice and the discipline of it helps calm her down. Weapons and martial arts training is like a dance and with the full space of the area available to her, she finds herself stretching all across the room in a tangled web of magic. Mid way through, she begins to mix in portals and dimensional travel while fighting her imaginary foe. Fully absorbed in her flow, she completely loses track of time and pays no attention to the world outside of her space. Sweep low. Block high. Step backwards into portal. Dodge left. Counter. Jump right. Jump in the air. Jump a third time. Attack from above.

Landing on the ground, Michelle breaks from her drill to take a quick drink of water and sees that a full hour has gone by. When she turns around to pick back up where she left off, she notices she's no longer alone. At the entrance to the area are the five novices, some of them looking at her in awe. With them is Wong.

"Michelle," he nods in approval, "Welcome back to Kamar-Taj." The meaning is not lost on her.

She stands at attention, feeling a little nervous and bogged down in grief, but still taller than she has in days, "I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, but I want to try. What do you need me to do?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably going to go some places. It'll end up being pretty long so I'm breaking this one up into multiple chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting into some spoiler territory here. No more warnings from here on out.

Walking through a forest, deep in rural China, is not how Michelle Jones expected to be spending her day. Wong didn't give her a whole lot of detail about why she's here other than to say that there was some kind of "disturbance in the fabric of reality" in the area. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how dramatic it sounded, but the man seemed confident that she could handle the problem. It doesn't take her long before she finds it. After climbing through thick brush, Michelle comes to a ledge. Down about twenty meters below her is a small, pristine lake and hovering above it is a literal crack in the air as if someone had punched a window. A dimensional rift.

The land and trees around the rift are horribly warped and twisted from its influence. She's seen this kind of thing once before and admittedly was hoping to never see it again because of how screwed up it was. Back when she was first starting out, she had troubles comprehending the idea of other dimensions to which Strange "helped" her by literally sending her around the multiverse. One of the dimensions he showed her was an unnamed one that morphs everything inside of it in fractals. In the 10 seconds she was in there, she saw her hands growing other hands in infinitely repeating patterns. Really fucked up stuff.

Michelle shudders for a moment. That was... not a great place. Unfortunately, that seems to be where this dimensional rift leads to and it's trying to distort reality around it. Trees are growing smaller trees off of them in such a way that they look like really bizarre branches. The wildlife near the edge of the lake that she can see is- The girl looks away. That's a memory she would rather wipe from her mind.

After taking a moment to assess the area and make sure there's no imminent danger, she climbs down to get a better look. It hasn't grown very large yet and seems to be expanding very slowly. In time, it will start affecting nearby areas and entire cities would essentially twist in on themselves.

"Okay, Michelle," she speaks to herself while rubbing her hands together. Her crimson robes designating her as an apprentice of the Mystic Arts flutter in the wind. "Time to put your training to use."

Finding a clear spot to work without getting too close, Michelle begins to poke and prod at the rift. It appears to be mostly stable for the moment so there's no immediate risk and if she can't figure it out, it'll likely be weeks before this gets out of control. Wong could step in-

No. She can't just pass this up the chain. This is her responsibility now. Wong had faith that she can do this and she doesn't want to let him down. Nothing is trying to kill her out here so she has time to figure this out.

In theory, closing this kind of rift is a lot like forcing another sorcerer's portal to close. It's similar to mending a tear in clothing, but instead of a needle and thread you use magic. Starting her first attempt, Michelle gets about halfway through before it destabilizes and the spell fizzles in the air. Sighing, the girl settles in for the long haul. This might take a while.

And it does. A full four hours later, she finally pulls it off. The crack begins to seal itself back together with a rumbling noise and winks out of existence as if it was never there. Backing up to a safer spot, Michelle watches as the world around the lake slowly returns to normal now that the rift's influence is gone Thirty minutes later, the damage is fully reverted and she heads back to Kamar-Taj feeling content and accomplished.

 

 

 

Officially, her new job is to act as the Kamar-Taj librarian, but it has only been 48 hours since starting and she doesn't really know what she's doing yet. The responsibilities include the kind of stuff you would normally expect for that role such as tracking loaned out books and such, but she's also required to defend the place with her life. The novices come and study with her in the library, but she doesn't talk to them very much. It's not that Michelle hates them or anything. She's just not in the mood for a lot of human interaction these days. It's easier for her to forget the world when she's by herself.

It's the nightmares, Michelle thinks, that really get to her. In a morbid sense, being so far away from home has helped to not think about the deaths of her family and friends, but that doesn't stop them from begging her to save them in her dreams. When the sun goes down, she can feel it coming like something clawing at the back of her mind. Unable to get proper rest, she ends up spending all day and night studying and training. The work is all that keeps the guilt of her self-perceived failure away.

She's about to get started learning how to conjure types of weapons other than a whip when Wong comes by. "Come with me," he says. "I have realized that we've never trained together and I would like to see first hand more of where you are in your studies. No spells for now. Just whatever weapons you can make and shields."

Michelle shakes herself out of her thoughts about the world back home and follows him out to the training area. She could use another distraction and she's never actually seen Wong in action before.

It shouldn't be a surprise, but it blows her away that Wong can throw down. Apparently he's more used to taking on a supporting role and it's immediately obvious as to why because he can make the strongest shields she's ever seen and he's phenomenal at adjusting the size of them on the fly. His base fundamentals are amazing. This skill of his leads him to take a rather defensive and opportunistic fighting style.

Keeping at the edge of her whip's range, Michelle tests out lashing at Wong, but the shields are too strong and too large for her to get through. Hell, Wong doesn't even need to move the shield to block. It's literally the size of his body. On one of her attacks, the man lunges forward and is able to catch her right arm mid-swing and pulls it towards him. The move throws her off balance and Wong takes the opportunity to counter with his own attack. Using the momentum from her stumble, Michelle allows herself to fall to the floor to dodge and swipes her arm out at Wong's legs to snag him with the whip and make him fall over as well with a tug. The two of them race to stand back up, but it's essentially right back to where they started from. A stalemate.

There's no immediately apparent way to break through the shields, so Michelle tries to get around them. Taking inspiration from the time that Mordo attacked her, she runs at Wong and uses the abilities of the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr to leap around him with great speed, hoping to catch him in an unguarded spot. Accidentally executing the move a little close to her opponent, Wong counters this by simply reaching out, grabbing her leg while she's in the air, and throwing her on the ground. Dropping his shields, he conjures his own whip and ties Michelle up in it as she gets up.

She lost.

Except, why are her instincts screaming at her to try and break the binding? She's never been able to do anything like that before.

_But that was against Strange,_ a voice tells her from the back of her mind _. You can do this. Don't give up. Don't run away._

Wong is talking, likely some form of lecture about things she did wrong, but Michelle ignores it and starts to struggle. Ever so slowly, she can feel herself stretching the bindings away. Squirming her arms around, she slowly pulls her right hand free millimeter by millimeter. With a final pull, she manages to get her hand out and the bindings fall apart around her like a loose belt. Taking it, she grabs her end of the magical whip that was binding her and yanks it to the side which interrupts a surprised Wong and tosses him to the floor. Conjuring her own whip, she quickly strikes and wraps it around him before he can stand, effectively doing the exact same thing to him that he did to her just moments ago.

_Holy shit, I just overpowered the strongest sorcerer still alive. What does this mean?_

After releasing him, Wong gets back up and brushes himself off. "Interesting," he comments with a long look at her, "Stephen used to speak about you, but I wasn't sure if I entirely believed his assessment until now. You clearly have some talent. Need to work on your technique however."

Still stunned by her own success, Michelle remains silent.

Nodding to himself, he finishes, "Yes, I believe there are some things I can teach you."

 

 

 

Some days are worse than others when her thoughts drift off to the world back home and Michelle thinks she may never fully get over it. News reports indicate that rioting isn't as much of a concern anymore now that people have moved on past the anger phase of grief, but civilization is an utter mess. Governments are in shambles, logistics systems are virtually non-existent due to highways still being blocked by wrecks, and overall crime rates are through the roof. Probably the least shocking thing she learns is that schools are closed until further notice.

It's... hard. Perhaps she was just being selfish, but she never really thought much about the novices having troubles of their own. It's not uncommon to see someone suddenly break down after checking some news and Michelle doesn't know how to help. How can she help others when she's having the same issue too? Before things settle, the whole world will have shed enough tears to fill an ocean. Michelle includes herself in that.

Despite her dwindling hope that Peter is alright, she never crosses off his name. It's perhaps irrational and illogical at this point, but marking him off feels like it would be giving up. It's something to hold on to when she gets into one of her darker moods or after waking up from another nightmare. There isn't a whole lot left to be optimistic for.

After a particularly bad day where she couldn't get Cindy's younger brother out of her mind, Michelle decides to grab her sketchbook and try drawing something. Taking a seat in the library, she begins to draw one of the trainees on the other side of the room. It's a woman, about 30 years old. Michelle's hands fly across the paper, catching as many details of the woman that she can like the hunch of her shoulders, the unkempt and messy hair, and the look in her eyes that shows she's clearly not reading the current page of her book.

Finishing the shading, Michelle studies her progress in the drawing. It's actually one of the better things she's done, but it's the face etched in misery that she focuses on. Suddenly feeling like she's lost her appetite, she rips out the page in a burst of anger and crumples it up, not wanting to see it again. Drawing people in crisis isn't funny anymore and that's all anyone looks like these days.

 

 

 

The thing is, Wong drops by as much as he can, but he kind of has other obligations. When he's back at the Sanctum, Michelle is the highest ranking person in the complex and that leads the novices to look at her like she has all the answers. It's weird and a little uncomfortable considering some of them are over two to three times her age. Thankfully, the kinds of things they ask her about are usually for help on learning something. Apparently she does a good enough job of tutoring that Wong ends up asking her to start leading some group training sessions.

Standing there in the training area, in front of the novices, might be the hardest thing Michelle has ever done. It brings back the same feeling as when she would start up practices at school. In their faces, she sees her friends that she'll probably never see again. A monumental effort is required, but Michelle manages to swallow back her regrets and get the session going. If anyone notices that they simply stood around for five minutes before starting or that Michelle had run off to retreat to her dorm room after finishing, no one said a word.

Back at the desk in her room, Michelle pulls out some notebooks she brought with her and begins to write. She writes about anything and everything. With her hobby of drawing people just highlighting bad memories, she turns to making her own stories. The endless number of books she's read in her life have taught her much about what makes for a good narrative. It helps. The couple notebooks she brought with her are burned through at a rapid pace and she quickly runs out. Michelle heads back to her apartment to get more and bring some of her things she had previously left behind only to find that her home was ransacked. There's virtually nothing left.

She wishes she could say she was surprised.

 

 

 

Wong starts bringing Michelle along to some field work.

She sharply looks over to the man with a stupefied look, "That's a gargoyle. Like, a real gargoyle. Are all mythical things real?"

He shrugs, "Not all, but many legends are based on at least a little bit of fact." Geez, that's kind of crazy to think about. Then again, the first time she met Strange, he mentioned a fight against a literal dragon. This is pretty normal compared to that.

The two of them are on a rooftop in London, observing a nearby cathedral where the creature seems to have taken up residence. News is still a bit disorganized, but there's scattered reports of someone being attacked in the area by a "large animal" which Wong seems to believe is this gargoyle. It wouldn't surprise Michelle. From what she can tell at this distance, it cuts a rather intimidating figure. The thing is probably a couple heads taller than herself.

"Go on now. I'll assist if I need to," he says as he waves her off.

Michelle narrows her eyes at the man. "Is this your idea of mentoring me or are you just being lazy?" He doesn't respond aside from quirking an eyebrow so she raises her middle finger to flip him off as she walks through a portal.

After dealing with that particular issue, Wong strikes up conversation with Michelle while taking a break on a nearby rooftop in the cool, night air before heading back, "Would you believe it if I told you I actually have very little idea what I'm doing?"

The comment is so out of nowhere that Michelle almost trips on her own feet, "Don't worry, I'll keep your dark secrets," she bemusedly replies with a small grin.

"The Ancient One handled many responsibilities for so long that no one else truly knew how to fill her position."

The name baffles Michelle and her face comically twists in confusion, "What the hell kind of name is that? Sounds pretentious."

The man lets out a small nostalgic chuckle and with a wave of his hand he projects an illusion much like when he was giving Stark and Banner a lesson on the Infinity Stones. In the projection is a bald woman, maybe 50-ish years old. "We never knew her real name, but she was the Sorcerer Supreme until she died a couple years ago. An example of what I'm referring to would be for promotions. Virtually all changes in rank were hand picked by her. I know of no consistent logic that was used for it."

Michelle looks over to Wong, "You guys seemed pretty clear-cut when you moved me to Apprentice," she comments.

"Yes," he nods and elaborates, "That was a much easier line for us to make, but promotions to Master were always very vague. The Ancient One would sometimes choose new and relatively inexperienced people. Stephen was one of them. Did you know that he was named a Master before he was even fully aware of the dangers in the multiverse?"

That's... odd. How could he have somehow not known? "Why wasn't he? He was always pretty upfront with me about it."

Wong frowns slightly, "I don't believe I could give you an entirely accurate answer, but I later learned that The Ancient One frequently consulted the Time Stone to better prepare for future dangers. Stephen originally came to Kamar-Taj to heal his hands and nothing more. I assume she knew that telling him would scare him off so she let the information drip slowly. The Time Stone is possibly also how she knew who to name as Master."

That sounds suspiciously like how Strange admitted he had used the Time Stone to know how to convince her to continue training in the Mystic Arts. Michelle never really decided how to feel about that. The whole thing sounds manipulative, but she made all her own choices, right? "So now you're just flying blind?"

"Essentially. I have been considering offering you the title of Master for the past few days."

Michelle chokes on air and coughs for a good fifteen seconds. Wong actually turns and smirks at her, the bastard. "So, what, are you asking for my opinion?" she eventually gets out.

"No," Wong firmly denies. "I've already made up my mind because I believe I now see what Stephen saw in you. Would you like to be a Master of the Mystic Arts?"

Michelle is silent for a time and looks around the city of London. So many buildings are left unlit. People seem to be converging together near the central areas of the city and leaving the outer edges completely abandoned which serves as a perfect reminder of why she's staying in Kamar-Taj. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

"Would my responsibilities change?" she asks for clarification.

"Not particularly. What will change are your own expectations out of yourself. While neither of us will ever be as gifted as Stephen was, I believe you will surpass me in time. Our reality needs protecting and I would like your help."

She understands what he means. Even now, she has always had the choice to just walk away. There's no particular obligation to be here and it's not like Wong is blackmailing her into staying. Michelle stays because she now knows that this is the right thing to do. The burden he wants to place on her shoulders isn't one she knows how to carry, but wasn't this the whole point to it all?

"Yeah, I can do that." She has to.

 

 

 

And so roughly three weeks pass since Thanos arrived.

Life as a sorceress is a cycle of learning, protecting, and teaching. Emphasis on the learning. The quietest place Michelle has found to study and write when she wants some privacy is nearby the section of the library typically reserved for the Sorcerer Supreme. Behind those shelves is the room containing a spherical model of Earth and the three doorways that lead to the Sanctums. Michelle isn't too familiar exactly with how the model globe (confusingly named the Orb of Agamotto) works, but it is supposed to be showing the status of the shield protecting the world. Somehow, it also notifies of other threats.

Two days after her discussion with Wong about being promoted to Master, the Orb makes a noise.

"What the hell was that?" Michelle mutters to herself as she looks around. After a few moments, she notices a change in the Orb. Something powerful caused a literal ripple in the shield generated by the New York Sanctum. A red dot of sorts shows the source coming from upstate, right where the Avengers compound is.

She almost runs off to grab Wong before she realizes, _oh wait, she's the person now that people would grab_. Unsure how exactly she's supposed to handle this, Michelle puts on her sling ring and opens a portal to the home of the Avengers.

It feels like there's an earthquake. The ground is rumbling. Walls are shaking. Things are falling off of shelves. Stumbling for a moment as she steps through, she can see Banner and a few others racing outside, likely to see what's going on.

"Dr. Banner! What the hell is happening?" Michelle shouts out to him. The man nearly trips and turns around, not slightly surprised at her appearance.

"We're picking up something entering the atmosphere," he replies as he keeps running.

It's night outside and everyone starts to slow down in the grass which gives her the opportunity to look around and see who all is here. It takes her a moment to recognize some of them. Steve, Colonel Rhodes, Pepper Potts, and that might be the Natasha further away. None of them pay her any attention and possibly just haven't noticed her.

Up in the sky is a huge spaceship, slowly being lifted to the ground by a glowing woman.

Seconds drag on like hours as everyone merely watches as the woman slowly places the ship down, then looks around as the orange glow recedes, revealing blonde hair and a blue/red outfit. The ramp of the ship begins to lower with the sound of depressurization.

Slowly and unsure of his footing, Tony Stark steps foot on to Earth.

Michelle's heart is in a vice grip. There's no one else. No one else is coming down. _No one else is coming down._

Pepper runs over to Tony, but Tony's not looking at her. He's looking around for someone else and stops when he spots his target. "Bruce!" he weakly shouts with an apparent frail condition. "Come here!"

Banner jogs closer and as he does, a woman with blue skin comes down the ramp. She's carrying an unconcious Peter Parker.

"Oh my god," Michelle gasps to herself and is at their side in an instant. She shakes him, but there's no response. His skin is freezing to the touch, but there's a pulse. "What's wrong with him?" she demands of Tony.

Tony looks between her and Bruce, "I think the kid's gone into some kind of hibernation due to lack of food. Get him inside and warm."

Immediately after his explanation, he faints and collapses against a panicking Pepper.

 

 

 

He's thin. Too thin. Frankly, he looks like he'd fall over in a stiff breeze.

"You know dork, if you were going to take on enough weird spider traits that hibernation was a real concern, I would have liked to have known about that ahead of time," Michelle talks to a sleeping Peter.

He's wrapped up in several layers of blankets with an IV hooked up. Tony is rigged up similarly in another room, but at least he's awake. They came back from space last night. Michelle didn't give much of an explanation to Wong as to where she is other than to say she's busy so hopefully he'll forgive her.

Through the window of the room Peter and she are in, Michelle can see Tony wheeling himself out to a common room to talk with the other Avengers. He doesn't look particularly happy.

It probably says a lot about how strange her life is now that she takes the presence of aliens in the other room in stride. The flying woman is actually pretty nice and Michelle chats with her briefly. Her name is Carol Danvers which Michelle makes sure to take note of that because anyone powerful enough to actually ripple a dimensional barrier is important. The blue woman is Nebula, though she hasn't spoken a word with her. Apparently she's part cyborg or something. There's also a talking raccoon, which is, well, it's something. Michelle has a really hard time taking him seriously. He's even dressed up in clothes! Like, what the hell?

The group outside seems to quickly devolve into an argument after Tony starts shouting. He also starts pointing into the room that she's in with Peter, but it's soundproof so she can't make out the words. Tony is pissed though.

"Could really use some of your bottomless optimism right now," she tells Peter as she looks away from the window. She checks his temperature. He's warming up slowly. Maybe tomorrow he might wake up.

"They say it helps to talk to people when they're in a coma. You're not really in a coma, but close enough. I wish I had some good stories. I got into a fight with a huge gargoyle on top of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It punched through a few walls. Hopefully no one notices."

Michelle reaches under the covers and entwines one of his hands with hers.

"I hope Ned had a nice date with Betty."

 

 

 

Some time later, everyone files out to do... something. She doesn't actually know where they're going. The ship that came in apparently belonged to the raccoon (there's a lot to unpack there) so he started working on repairs almost immediately after the landing. He must have finished already because everyone just got in it and left.

After Michelle sees Pepper leaving Tony's side, Michelle steps into his room to chat with the man.

"Hey Sabrina," he greets, clearly trying to force a more positive mood than before.

She tilts her head slightly in confusion, not catching the reference. "I just wanted to thank you for bringing him home," Michelle tells him.

Tony brings a hand up to scratch the side of his head for a time, "He's a good kid. Better than I ever was. I think I have you to thank though."

"What did I do?"

His movement is a little restricted from the bed, but he shuffles slightly in place, unsure how to phrase his words, "Pete had some bracelet or something. Said he got it from you. I saw him turning to dust, but then the thing turned on and stopped it."

Michelle doesn't get it. "Uh, what are you talking about?"

"Are we talking about the same thing here? He said you gave it to him for Christmas."

"Yes," she confirms slowly, still uncomprehending.

"Did you do anything weird to it?"

Shrugging, "I tried to. It was a dud though and broke. Didn't you see how messed up it was?"

"Whatever you did saved his life. Some kind of magic thing came out of it and stopped him from turning to dust, then it turned to dust instead."

But it broke. What the hell? The spell she was trying to place on it wasn't even all that powerful. How could it have stopped the power of 6 Infinity Stones? It was supposed to maybe deflect a single bullet away from him.

A memory of the artifact display room in the Sanctum flashes to the front of her mind. Relics of all kinds had turned to dust because they were sentient. The bracelet didn't somehow have the power to stop a universe altering power, _it took his place_. It jumped in front of the bullet and turned to dust instead of Peter.

So many times Michelle had offered to replace the damn thing with one that wasn't damaged. Each time, Peter had refused for no reason other than sentimentality. Dumb luck saved his life. Her mind reeling, Michelle takes a seat to recollect herself.

"Pepper's been locking me away from the news," Tony's voice cuts in. "How bad is it out there?"

Still a little lost in her thoughts, Michelle knows she probably shouldn't give him the complete truth. He looks absurdly frail, just like Peter. Still, he deserves to at least know some bad news.

"May's dead," she tells him. Peter won't take it well and she'll need to learn to be strong for him.

He takes a minute to absorb the information. "Shit," he whispers to himself then looks directly at Michelle, promise in his eyes. "I'll take him in. Do you need a place to stay?"

She shakes her head, "I'm staying with Wong in Nepal. I haven't had any reason to stay here."

"Nepal. That's a hell of a commute."

"It helps to have a really fancy ride made of orange sparkles," she dryly reminds him. "Where did everyone go anyway?"

He shuffles again uncomfortably, "New girl claims she's strong enough to fight Thanos. They all left to try again for round two."

Michelle blinks, "But, he has the stones." That sounds like a suicide run of the highest order. This must be why Tony was pointing at Peter and her earlier. He was trying to keep them out of it. Part of her is annoyed by this. If she's honest with herself, she would have been tempted to go too if Peter was dead. Maybe Tony knew that.

Tony doesn't comment, instead just staring at the ceiling with a scowl on his face.

 

 

 

"Wong promoted me to Master. I don't think you've ever met him. I'm supposed to make my own robes now and can make them look however I want, but I haven't had time. What color should I use?" Michelle asks Peter.

Of course there's still no response. She lets out a sigh.

"I was thinking blue, but I wonder if people will think I'm copying Dr. Strange. Maybe that's why I want to do it. I don't know."

Not once did she ever ask about her former teacher, but she doesn't need the confirmation. There seemed to be an informal understanding between herself and Tony to try and not talk too much about the dead.

"Do you think we'll still have to take finals for the current school year? I think I saw they might be trying to reopen in the Fall."

"MJ?" comes a quiet voice. Sharply, Michelle looks up to see Peter finally awake, but still looking weak. "Space is really boring."

Michelle takes in the moment for as long as she can before she starts to laugh. It's probably the first time she's really felt okay in weeks. "You idiot. You stupid idiot."

A few hours later, the Avengers return from space, sorrow written all over their faces. Their mission was accomplished. Thanos is dead. The Infinity Stones, however, are destroyed and forever lost to the universe.

The half of the universe that died is never coming back.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not all that happy with this chapter. 
> 
> The fact that there is virtually no explanation on how the sorcerer ranks work lets me have a little more fun with making my own rules. 
> 
> This version of Tony is in a slightly better mood because Peter isn't dead.


	3. Chapter 3

Time passes.

True to his word, Tony takes in Peter and has himself marked as his legal guardian. He offers to do the same for Michelle, but she only agrees after a long time of thinking. To her, it feels like it would just cause a lot of hassle if she was associated with Tony Stark and she doesn't really care about the man. She's technically a minor though so it would help with legalities.

"I know we don't know each other all that well, but it's either me or someone who doesn't understand why you keep flying away on a broomstick at night. Just think of it as a purely legal thing to keep CPS away," Tony had argued. Despite her eye twitching at his comment, it's a fair statement for him to make.

Peter takes the losses hard in more ways than one. He practically shuts down for days without speaking. About two weeks after his return, Peter finally tries to catch up on what's going on which just sets his progress back to nothing. Feeling guilty about not helping his devastated city, Peter starts sneaking out as Spider-Man against literally everyone's recommendations. At first he took the crazy metal suit out, but quickly retired it for the older ones when he found that things needed a less... intimidating approach.

Michelle returns to her new home one night to find Peter on the couch in his Spider-Man suit. The mask is off, but his eyes are red. He's been crying.

Gently setting down her things to not startle him too much, she heads over and sits down next to him and runs one of her hands through his hair. She's learned that it helps him calm down from a bad day. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

"Do you remember that woman I told you about yesterday? Wendy?" Peter quietly asks after a while. Michelle remembers. He had spent a while on a rooftop last night, talking a woman out of wanting to jump to her death. "I found her again tonight in the same place. Same thing. I thought I talked her out of it again because she went back inside. Ten minutes later I went back to check. She jumped."

The top growing services in the world all center around death. Orphanages, grief counseling, and suicide prevention are some of the most notable. These things shape the new society.

Michelle pulls him in a little tighter, wishing she should shield him from the universe.

"I just," he slowly gets out between hiccups, "I just don't know what to do. I don't know how to help people like this. I see one almost every day and I try, I swear I try, but I don't know if I even believe my own speeches anymore."

“It's going to be okay,” she tries whispering to him. Michelle hopes she's not lying.

"I didn't get it for a long time, you know?" he tries to explain to her after he calms down a little. "We were on the spaceship and I didn't even know why we were there. Then we get to this other planet where everyone starts making a plan to fight Thanos and I didn't even know who Thanos was or why he mattered."

If she could fix one small thing she's ever done, Michelle would want to keep herself from sending that text warning Peter and Ned about the invasion.

"Even now, I still don't get it. I wasn't gone that long, but I come back and it's all different. It's like I went to bed one night and woke up in the Twilight Zone. I keep wondering if we made it back to the wrong planet. Maybe this place just looks a lot like my Earth. Maybe if I find the hidden camera or catch the right person in a lie, I'll find out that this is just a huge prank. May will come out from behind the curtain and it'll be okay again."

All Michelle can do is keep him as comfortable as she can and let him get it all out.

"Thanos said he wanted to remove half of all life for population control. I didn't get it. I still don't." Peter pauses and whispers his last thought, "It's not supposed to be that easy to kill people."

School reopens in the Fall. Seeing as everything exploded mid Spring semester, the school system just gives everyone an automatic pass to move on to the next year. It's easier to do that than trying to go back and give finals for classes that students haven't been studying for in months. As such, Peter and Michelle return to Midtown as seniors.

Michelle had a long talk with Wong about it. No matter what, she doesn't want to be a high school dropout. Wong took several long breaths in thought and agreed. She knows he's just trying to be kind, but each time she returns to Kamar-Taj, she sees him getting more and more stressed about having to effectively run the show himself. This combined with several new recruits somehow finding their way there make the man look like he's drowning. Michelle tries to help out as much as she can with whatever jobs need handling, but it's just patching holes in a leaking dam. There isn't enough time to help him the way she needs to while going to school.

Deep down, she knows the truth. She'll never be able to go to college.

 

 

 

Time passes.

"I swear," Michelle's eyes flash dangerously, "if you so much as step out of this room, I will chain you down in here."

"MJ, you know I have to go! Think about all the damage he's going to do! I can't let him do this again," Peter argues as he tries to edge past her without hurting her.

"Yeah," she growls out, "and the last time you fought him, you almost died. You're delusional if you think you're going out there."

People vanishing caused problems in many unexpected areas. One example would be prisons. The sudden lack of guards allowed some inmates to escape if they were in the right place at the right time. Matthew Dillon, aka Electro, was one of these people.

"If not me, then who? The Avengers basically don't exist anymore and the few still there are busy. Tony's in the hospital with Pepper!" Peter tries to make her understand.

He's right. Pepper had just gone into labor and pulling Tony away from that would be the definition of a dick move. Peter had gone with him, but ended up sneaking away when he heard the news about the attack.

"You're right. I'm going with you instead," she decides for him as she digs out her sorceress uniform from her closet, fire blazing in her eyes. She had ended up deciding on a yellow color with a large hood to help conceal her face. It's apparently a common thing among the sorcerers for “public” work. She might need a ski mask or something for this though.

Peter immediately switches into panic mode, "What? No, no, no, no. No, you can't."

If Michelle has learned anything out of this whole mess, it's that if she wants to hold on to something, she needs to be willing to fight for it. And she wants to hold on to Peter. Grabbing Peter by the collar of his Spider-Man suit, she pulls him to her and kisses him as hard as she can, hoping to communicate as much as she can through it. A minute later, they break apart and catch their breath.

"Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually you're going to get in over your head and I am not going to stand by anymore and just hope you come back alive," Michelle declares. "Even if I have to do it with my own bare hands, I will not let my life be written as a tragedy.”

And yes, Michelle is fucking terrified. She's putting on a brave front, but good god she is scared.

His emotions swirl in his eyes as she watches, but his face is mostly blank. “I need to do this. I love you,” she quietly tells him.

After nearly a minute of staring at each other, Peter face softens and he moves closer to lean his forehead against hers. “I love you too, MJ. I don't have a lot left. Can't you understand why I'm trying to keep you out of this?”

“I don't have much left either, Peter.”

Silence. Eventually, he nods. “Okay, but if you're coming with me, then I get to go with you when you do your thing because that's exactly how I feel when you leave."

That ball is in her court now. "Deal." They shake on it.

And so a bargain is struck. Anytime something beyond the norm comes up that would pose additional risk and danger, they notify the other and give them the chance to come too. All things considered, Michelle thinks it wasn't too bad of an idea.

The two of them together defeat Electro in record time. A whopping thirty seconds in, Peter is able to force him through a portal Michelle made. The portal dumped him into the ocean where he promptly short circuited.

 

 

 

Time passes.

Graduating from high school is painful for all the wrong reasons. Roughly 20% of the student body has no one to come watch them. No one to cheer for them. No one to celebrate with them. Where the announcement of names would frequently be met with joyous applause, it's now completely silent. Just like she had once claimed to Strange, Michelle is acknowledged as valedictorian. She isn't given a chance to give a speech however which is mostly fine. She isn't sure what she would say that doesn't sound completely fake.

Tony comes with Pepper, though they do their best to disguise who they are to avoid drawing attention. Pepper gives them both a big hug after the ceremony is over while Tony rubs Peter's hair and gives him some lighthearted teasing. Despite her misgivings about the man, Michelle is happy that someone like him is in her boyfriend's life. They legitimately care about each other. For all the bad things that have happened, they could have ended up in a much worse position.

Before they pile in to another one of Tony's stupidly expensive cars, Peter turns around and stares at the building where the graduation was held. His face is cracking, but he's holding it together. Michelle moves next to him and gently bumps his shoulder with hers to show her support.

"I just wish May was here, you know? I wish Ned was here," Peter says sadly before quietly adding, "I wish everyone was here."

"Yeah." She wishes her parents had come to see her too.

There's a party thrown afterwards, but it can barely be called that. It's really still just the four of them. Seeing Tony and Pepper interact is, well, she doesn't know the right word. Morgan Stark was born on December 3rd and the two new parents are practically over the moon in happiness with their new daughter. When Michelle watches them, she feels a mixture of jealousy and hope. The jealousy comes from the fact that despite the world going to shit, Tony's managed to carve out a perfect piece of it for himself. Hope, because maybe she might be able to pull it off too. It will never be as good as it could be in her dreams, but maybe it might get close.

All she needs to do is hold on. Just keep holding on.

That night, Michelle falls asleep on the couch. Before her consciousness fades entirely, she overhears a conversation between Peter and Tony.

"Kid," Tony starts helplessly, "you need to go. You need something else. This superhero gig can't be your whole life."

"Maybe MJ has the right idea though. I could do so much more here in the city if I don't go to college," Peter retorts.

"Trust me, I already had a long chat with her about it. At least with her, it's not a constant battle. If you went out as Spider-Man full time, your entire day would be spent fighting endlessly. That's no way to live.

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"You go to school and you learn." Tony pauses for a moment, "Look, I've never said this kind of stuff before because I don't like the idea of laying big expectations on you. After I finish, let's just pretend this never happened, okay?"

Peter must have nodded because Tony continues, "Spider-Man is a cool guy. Strong, agile, and good morals. One day, I think he's going to save the world. If I'm honest, he'll probably do it a few times. Peter Parker though? One day, I think he's going to _change_ the world. There's a big difference. There will come a time where you'll realize that Peter Parker is just as much the star of the show as his superhero alter ego. When that happens, you're going to do something truly amazing. I hope I get to see it."

To Tony's slight disappointment, Peter can't bring himself to leave the city when it needs his help more than ever before. As a compromise, he stays local and gets in to ESU. Sensing an opportunity due to its location in Greenwich Village, Michelle makes a challenge to Wong in a no-restrictions fight to prove that she is capable of a new job.

She wins.

At age 18, about a year and a half after being named a Master of the Mystic Arts, Michelle Jones becomes the newest and youngest ever Guardian of the New York Sanctum. Conveniently, it's located just minutes away from ESU.

Wong, of course, is actually quite ecstatic with being able to move back in to Kamar-Taj full time.

 

 

 

Time passes.

Every now and then, Michelle wonders if her parents would be proud of her. Her work is important, but she's also kind of broke. Extremely broke. Being a Master of the Mystic Arts is not a well-paying job. She'd like to think she's self-sufficient, but every time she goes out for anything, Peter ends up having to be the one who pays. It's a little humiliating. If there's an upside, she gets to live in the Sanctum which serves as an extremely nice home.

Peter ends up moving in with her when they're 21. The influence that Tony has had on his life is noticeable in nearly everything he does. He spends more time tinkering and reading research papers than ever before. There's even a makeshift lab of his own that he's rigged up in the Sanctum which Wong wasn't too happy with, but he got over it. Peter still talks too much when out as Spider-Man though. Admittedly, that's started rubbing off on Michelle.

There is still the occasional big disaster that they get involved with, but overall, things are starting to stabilize around the world. Census efforts complete in many countries and talks begin about making monuments to memorialize the lost. Michelle isn't sure if there's enough stone on the planet for all those names. Regardless, she winds up finally having normal amounts of free time. The trainees in Kamar-Taj have come along fine and maybe she feels a bit of pride when people she helped teach get promoted to Apprentice. The sorcerer order isn't to a point where she could step away or take a vacation, but maybe in a few years it'll get there.

With her newfound free time, Michelle returns to her writing. She's getting close to finishing a first draft of a book that she'd like to try and get published. Maybe it won't be a bestseller, but it'd be nice to have some real income of her own. If she could do it all over again, Michelle thinks she would have liked to have gone into an English major at Columbia, then be a full-time author/freelance writer with some magic on the side. She's still somewhat okay with how things have turned out career wise, but it could always be better, right?

"Rocket found something when assisting Carol with some cleanup in another galaxy. He thinks it might be something magical and wants you to take a look at it," comes Natasha's voice from her phone. Michelle's got it on speaker while editing a big, climactic chapter.

Michelle stops typing and turns to stare at her phone on the table. "I'm not doing house calls to outer space," she deadpans.

She hadn't seen the Avengers for a long time ever since Thanos was killed, but Michelle was re-introduced to them a year ago when she found Steve and Natasha investigating another dimensional rift. There have been a surprising number of the things in the past few years. Wong speculated that it's related to the energy release of the Infinity Stones being used on Earth and that it should subside in time. When Michelle had arrived, the two Avengers were making some calls to see would could fix the problem, so she stepped in and quickly took care of it. It's amazing how fast you can gain respect when people actually see you do your job rather than just hear about it.

"Is he even sure it's magic? I know the alien tech can get pretty weird," Michelle continues. She can already feel a headache coming on.

"He seems to think so," Natasha answers. "Says it's not something he's used to. I'll see if he can drop it off next time he comes by." The two of them then hang up.

Michelle starts to furiously rub her temples. "You are making business deals with a raccoon. This is completely normal. This your life now. Get used to it," she chants to herself like a mantra.

Idly, she wonders if the Science Fiction genre is just regular Fiction now.

 

 

 

Time passes

She's 22 now. Peter just graduated from ESU a few days ago and they're still celebrating. It's nice having lots of time for them to just spend with each other. Peter will, of course, need to start looking for a job soon, but he feels like he's earned a little time off.

Tony has long since moved further upstate to a nice cabin by a lake. It's a peaceful place. He invites them over to dinner periodically and routinely keeps trying to get Peter to join his company in a bit of a running gag. Whenever Michelle looks at Pepper though, she's got this evil glint in her eyes that implies she's got plans of her own. Michelle is convinced the older woman could have taken over the world if she tried.

Morgan is adorable and Peter tries to spoil her something terrible. It gets Michelle thinking about what kind of future she can still cobble together. Peter and Michelle have been very careful to avoid a pregnancy because their lives are too weird to possibly handle a kid, but she thinks she'd like one though at some point, despite the fact that she still isn't exactly rolling in cash.

The money thing has become a big point of insecurity for her. Intellectually, she knows that Peter loves her. The astonishment that Michelle actually loves him back is written all over his face every time they talk. It's like he can't believe how lucky he's gotten despite everything, but Michelle can't stop feeling bad because there's nothing that she can offer him. She's considered wanting to talk to Peter about future stuff like marriage and kids, but it feels wrong because every time she imagines how the conversation would go, it comes out sounding like she just wants him for his money. The fact that Peter has yet bring up any similar topics leaves Michelle a little concerned that maybe they aren't on the same page.

Her personal issues aside, the world is doing... okay. “Okay” might be stretching it, but there's a semblance of normality now. The number one job in the world is still grief counseling and seeing people break down and cry is still a completely routine experience, but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Michelle has a new personal record of making three weeks without a nightmare. Peter's best so far is two.

As much as Michelle would like to enjoy this quiet time, something is bound to go wrong eventually. It all starts when Michelle gets a call in the middle of the night.

The sound of her phone ringing startles her into waking and she groggily begins flailing to stop the offending noise. A check of the time reveals that it's 3:28 AM and Bruce Banner is calling. She hits the ignore button and sends him to voicemail before wrapping herself back up in the covers.

The phone starts ringing again. Carefully untangling herself from Peter's arms, Michelle reaches over and grabs her phone. An amusing fact about Peter that Michelle learns is that he can sleep through anything. If there is actual danger, his spider sense thing wakes him up in an instant, but otherwise he's practically dead to the world. A glance at the caller shows that it's Bruce again.

She picks up this time. "My consulting hours are between when I wake up and when I go to bed. This is not within that timeframe," Michelle grumbles with a slightly hoarse voice and hangs up on him.

The phone rings a third time. Ugh. Slowly crawling out of bed to avoid waking Peter, Michelle steps out into the hall and answers the phone. Before she says anything, Banner's voice can be faintly heard talking to someone else, "It's fine. Don't worry about it. She just gets a little grumpy if you call this early."

Michelle pulls the phone away from her ear and wonders if she should just hang up on him again. Figuring that he'll probably keep calling, she decides to see what this is all about, "This had better be good."

"Michelle! Hey, I need a favor," Bruce says cheerily, as if it wasn't some godforsaken hour, "I need all the information you guys have on time travel. I'm specifically looking for concerns on branching timelines, anything that can be done to stabilize it, and whatever you have on the Infinity Stones."

Fucking hell. What is all this about? Taking a deep breath, Michelle hangs up and casts a quick spell to track Bruce. He's in the Avengers compound. Sneaking back into her bedroom to get her sling ring, she puts it on and opens a portal right into the room where he's located.

Seeing Bruce in his large, green, Hulk form full-time is probably something she'll never get used to. Compared to the more savage look of the Hulk from years past, he now looks so... normal. He's just a bigger, greener, Bruce Banner. A few years ago he learned to merge his intellect with the Hulk's brawn and the result is, well, this. He's not the only one in the room of course. There's the usual suspects whenever the Avengers are involved: Steve and Natasha. There's also some other guy she doesn't recognize.

Realizing she's still wearing the t-shirt and sweatpants she wore to bed, Michelle taps her shoulder to transform her clothes into her uniform as a Master of the Mystic Arts. With a flow of orange light down her body, yellow robes unfurl and replace what she was previously wearing in nearly an instant. Plopping down in a chair, Michelle tiredly asks, “Alright, you've got my attention. What's all this about now?”

“We're working on making a time machine,” Bruce explains as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. “By using the Quantum Realm, we think we can pull this off. I want to bounce some stuff off of you to make sure it won't cause any big problems.”

Right. She's just going to pretend she knows what the hell the Quantum Realm is. “You're saying you found a way to time travel through science?” May was right. World gets weirder every year.

“Yes! Someone has already done it once, but we just aren't sure how to control-”

The unknown man interrupts him, "Okay, I need to cut in here. Am I dreaming? Does no one else see the whole-" the man starts moving his right hand around in a circle while making whooshing noises. Oh, he's referring to the portal she left open behind her. It's a habit she picked up to make sure she could keep an eye on the Sanctum when she leaves it.

Natasha steps in to make introductions. "Scott, this is Michelle Jones. She's our local expert on," she reaches for the right word, "weird stuff. Michelle, this is Scott Lang. You might have heard of him as Ant-Man."

Michelle squints, "Who?" Apparently, that was the wrong question to ask because Scott deflates like a popped balloon.

"It doesn't matter," Bruce says. "This is the man who traveled through time. We think we can use his tech to go back into the past."

“To what end?” she asks as she gets up and paces around. “I'm pretty sure I should be stopping you guys from doing this.”

Steve explains the goal, "We plan to get the Infinity Stones from the past and use them to bring everyone back."

And she's left completely speechless.

Five years.

Five years of grief, regrets, and learning to move on.

When Michelle Jones finally gets a second chance, nearly a quarter of her life has been spent watching the world try and piece itself back together.

Five years.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got weirdly inspired and hammered this out pretty quick, which is funny because not a lot happens here for the overall plot. This is largely a transitional/exploration chapter that gives me an opportunity to see the world a little and imagine some highlights.
> 
> Couple small notes:  
> 1\. For those unaware, ESU (Empire State University) is a fictional college that Spider-Man canonically went to in the comics. The exact location is never given, but it's somewhere in Greenwich Village nearby NYU.
> 
> 2\. For those who have been waiting for it, we're going to see just what MJ is capable of now pretty soon. A short excerpt:
> 
> "Gaining strength as a sorceress is a cycle of study and practice. It's not an overnight thing. In some perspectives, you could view getting stronger as a function of time.
> 
> And five years is a lot of time."


	4. Chapter 4

It turns out you wake up very quickly when presented with the possibility of fixing your biggest regret.

"This," Michelle says as she drops a heavy and decorative tome on the table, "is the Book of Cagliostro. It contains all of the knowledge we have on how the Time Stone works and the dangers of screwing with the timeline. There's also a bunch of rituals that could destroy the world so I can't let you read it. Actually, if you even try to take this thing from me, I'm probably obligated to kill you."

"Yikes," mutters Scott as she takes a seat and begins to thumb through it. Michelle has already read a fair bit of it some time ago because anything from the Sorcerer Supreme's personal collection is bound to be interesting.

Steve leans back in his chair, "Anything in particular we should know about?"

"Well," she begins slowly and drifts into lecture mode as if she was teaching in Kamar-Taj, "there's a few things. I think Bruce may have already mentioned this, but changes to the past don't affect the future. It just spins off into a different branch of its own. However, this doesn't mean you're free to do whatever you want. You have to take into consideration their world. This is bigger than just us. There are other us's that deserve to not be screwed over by people from the future."

"What do you mean?"

Michelle sways a little in thought before she thinks of an example, "Hypothetically, you could go back in time, kill Vision, and take the stone out of his head. You don't want to do that because without him, that past timeline will be in trouble. This also means that we need to return the stones after we're done."

Steve nods in understanding, “You're saying to try and keep it discreet.”

“Essentially,” she confirms. “You can mess with the past, but don't go overboard. If this plan works, we want to give other timelines the chance to pull it off too.”

There's actually another thing, but she's not sure what to think about it. Messing with time can cause dimensional instability. It has already been worse than normal due to the aftereffects of Thanos' snap, but this could amplify it. Michelle doesn't think it'll destroy the world or anything, but she'll be extremely busy for the foreseeable future. If this was being done for any other reason, she'd stop them.

_Will I ever be able to scale back or quit? Maybe never. But if this works – if this crazy idea they have actually works – we'd have the full roster of sorcerers back. I could settle down a little. That happy ending I've been searching for isn't so out of reach all of a sudden._

Peter ends up walking through the portal from the Sanctum that she kept open. "Uh, good morning everyone," he yawns out. The appearance of a portal in the middle of the home he now stays in is a complete non-surprise to him. He's long since gotten used to all the weird shit that Michelle has brought into his life.

She takes a moment to just watch as the others greet him. Her boyfriend always wakes up with a look on his face that can only be described as innocent. It's like there's sixty seconds where Michelle can see him as just regular Peter before the weight of the world comes crashing back down upon him. She never tells him that he does it, but she treasures that moment each time she sees it.

It's a dash of normality in their world.

"I take it our vacation is over?" Peter asks, still a little groggy.

Michelle gives him an apologetic smile, "Yeah, sorry. You're going to want to hear about this."

There's a look on his face that lightly surprises her. They're both used to plans falling though due to unexpected things coming up, but he looks much more upset than he typically does when this happens. Bruce ends up calling Peter over, leaving Michelle to wonder if she's missing something.

Scott gives Peter a quick overview of what's going on and what he knows about the Quantum Realm. The idea of being able to shrink so small that normal logic no longer applies is pretty unique. The science of it all is a bit beyond her other than a basic understanding and conversational level, but Peter seems to follow along. When he finally catches on to what the ultimate goal is, he snaps back around to look at Michelle. His face is tight, too scared to express the hope she knows he's feeling.

Against common sense, she thinks maybe it's okay to hope this time.

 

 

 

A bunch of people in Kamar-Taj owe her favors so it's easy to get someone to cover for her in the Sanctum. She sticks around in the compound while Scott pulls out the equipment from his van and they start discussing how this could all work. She listens in for a time, but ends up tuning out when they start talking about something called Pym Particles. It's mid day now so Michelle heads outside to get a little training in.

Gaining strength as a sorceress is a cycle of study and practice. It's not an overnight thing. Viewed one way, you could say that getting stronger is a function of time.

And five years is a lot of time.

It's a testament to just how talented Stephen Strange was that Michelle has effectively had 6 years of experience compared to his two and she's still not quite as good as he was. Granted, she could put up one hell of a fight now. Many spells she had seen him use are now fully within her capabilities to cast except for some of the most difficult at top end such as the Images of Ikonn.

Not wanting to go into the Mirror Dimension just in case she's needed, she keeps it to slightly less destructive things. Using stuff like the Bolts of Balthakk would tear up the lawn more than she should so she plays with a different spell.

Creating a circular motion with her hands as if winding up something large, she expels energy that takes the form of massive winds. The first time she saw the Winds of Watoomb spell was when Strange cast it to clear the large dust clouds in the air right before the attack where he was taken. It's probably one of her favorites.

With various motions and gestures, Michelle guides the gusts as close to herself as possible and then expands them out. She repeats the process a few times and slowly does it faster each run. It's a flexible spell, allowing near total control of wind bursts that are easily strong enough to blow away people or even cars if focused enough. If kept wound close to herself, it can act as a defensive measure, but a more fun way to use it is...

Michelle begins to twist the winds together in a circular motion and it starts to take the form of-

"Show-off," Peter says as he approaches. His hands are in his pockets, but there's a fond smile on his face as he approaches.

She lets the spell drop and all the dirt or other bits of debris the winds had picked up fall back to the earth. "Miss me already?" she asks with a small grin.

"Err, we're done for now," he explains as he walks up next to her. "We technically pulled it off, but we couldn't control where it was going. I've learned more about quantum mechanics in the past 6 hours than in the past 4 years. It's a little exciting."

"You're making a time machine. I know this is more than a 'little' exciting to you." Michelle knows he loves to go full nerd with Bruce Banner.

"You got me," he puts his hands up in mock surrender with a small laugh.

At first glance, Peter seems relaxed, but closer observation tells the whole story. Michelle can see his body practically vibrating. It's more extreme than she would have expected, even if she accounted for his hope of bringing everyone back. Is he nervous about something?

"Worried that this isn't going to work?" she ventures.

"Um, no. No. Actually, I feel pretty confident that it'll work. We just haven't found the solution yet. I want to believe that."

What's got him so wound up? For a moment, Michelle thinks about trying to talk about the big future plans cloud that has been hanging over her head, but she ends up changing her mind. He's too skittish right now and if he's already rambling, it might just scare him off.

“You think you should get Stark's help on this?” she asks.

He shifts in place a little, “Apparently they already asked him. He said no.”

Odd. Not sure what to say, she instead takes his hand and starts walking back to the compound, “Come on, we should head back. I think Tony wanted us over at his place tonight for dinner anyway so you can ask him about it then."

Peter sighs, "Yeah, okay. You should've seen Scott's face when he saw you out here practicing."

"He wears a suit that can shrink his body to the size of an insect and he thinks magic is weird?"

“Apparently when they told him you could do magic, he thought they meant card tricks or something.”

“But he literally saw me make a portal. What did he think that was?”

 

 

 

“Peter! MJ!” Pepper greets as she opens the door to the Stark cabin. She reaches out and hugs both Peter and Michelle.

“Hi Pepper,” he returns with a smile. “Where's Morgan?”

“Dinner!” comes the cheery voice of a little girl. From around the side of the home, Tony Stark appears with Morgan Stark carried on his shoulders.

“Hey kid,” Tony says as he sets his daughter down.

“Tony, I'm 22. You can stop calling me that.”

“Nah,” the man declines. “Pretty sure you're stuck with it. Say hi to your brother, Morgan.”

The girl barely spares him more than a passing thought with a quick “Hi!” before racing inside, apparently too tempted by the meal.

“Brat,” Tony mutters fondly

Before they head inside, Peter catches Tony's attention and asks, “Why don't you want to help with the Quantum Realm project?”

His eyes seem catch in surprise for a moment, “They dragged you two into this?”

“Are you kidding me?” Peter nearly exclaims. “It's a chance to bring May back. How could I not try?”

The older man scratches his head for a moment, his eyes suddenly looking tired, “We'll chat about it later. Come on in. No talking shop over food.”

After eating, Peter takes Morgan down by the lake to try and teach her how to skip rocks on the water. Michelle stays up on the porch of the cabin to watch and Tony joins her shortly after cleaning up and washing the dishes.

It really is peaceful out here. She takes a moment to close her eyes and absorb the ambiance of it all.

"Did Pete ever tell you about what happened in space?" Tony asks as he approaches

Snapped from her thoughts, Michelle shakes her head while watching the scene by the lake, "He didn't like to talk about it much."

"Before Thanos came, the doc was doing some meditation thing with the Time Stone. He said he looked into some 14 million possible outcomes of the fight and that we only won in one of them."

Michelle chews on that information for a moment and Tony continues, "There was a point where we actually got his gauntlet off for just a split second before everything fell apart. That was it. Right there. We lost our one chance. Then Strange traded the Time Stone away to save my life."

He gave away the stone? All this time Michelle had assumed the it would have been taken over his dead body. He was always absurdly careful with the thing other than when he had demonstrated it to her a couple times. "Okay..." she prompts him to go on, unsure where this is going.

He pauses for a brief moment, "Now Lang shows up with wild tales of time travel and everyone falls over themselves at the possibility."

Is he implying that this might be the one path to victory? "Is it so bad to hope?"

Morgan runs back over to Peter with a smile pile of rocks to throw. He grabs one and shows her how to do it. It doesn't bounce a single time and goes right in. The two of them get a good laugh.

"The best years of my life have been after Thanos. I've got my own little family now. I can't lose it," Tony says vaguely, as if it should explain everything.

What is he on about? "Even if they figure it out, I'm sure they'd understand if you don't want to go. Changing the past doesn't affect us," Michelle offers as an option for him to help without risking anything.

He turns away from Peter and Morgan to look at Michelle, "I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about how the stones would be used."

Huh? It takes a second, but his vague statement begins clearing up. It's something she admittedly hadn't even thought about yet. She was too caught up in the idea that she could fix all this – that maybe she could finally earn forgiveness – that she hadn't even thought about the specifics.

"You don't want to revert everything," she assumes. It makes perfect sense. Turning back the universe's clock to before the snap would bring everyone back to life and would instantly set things back to normal, but Morgan would no longer exist.

Tony nods, "I've got a lot to lose."

"Wasn't Pepper already pregnant at the time?” Michelle points out. “Peter told me you did an embarrassing 'I told you so' dance or something right after you recovered from the trip back from space."

"Yes, but you'll remember we also had some close calls. There were complications."

That's entirely true. Still, they're getting ahead of themselves. It's not like they can even get any of the stones yet. "So, you don't want to try getting the time machine to work because you're afraid of the result?"

There's a long pause where neither of them say anything other than watch Peter and Morgan have their little rock skipping competition.

"I already figured it out," he reveals.

Her breath catches in her throat and Michelle wonders if she forgot how to breathe for a second. Down the hill, Peter's arm freezes for a moment in an obvious indication that he's listening in with his super-hearing.

"What!? Why don't you show them how it works?" she says a little louder than intended.

"I've got a lot to lose," he reminds her calmly.

Now frustrated with the solution being within reach, she asks him, "Then how would you do it?"

"Take all the vanished and move them to now. Easy."

_No. It's not that easy. My parents don't have a home to go back to._

"Where would they go? All of their homes are ransacked and run down due to being abandoned for so long! None of them would have jobs! There'd be hundreds of millions of homeless!” she's losing her temper. _Calm down, Michelle._

What possessions and bank accounts remained were passed down to inheritors. 3.5 billion people would appear with nowhere to go and nothing to their names. How the hell is that going to work? God, Ned would still be 17.

Tony disagrees, "All of which are things we can prepare for."

"You must be fucking joking,” she blows up at him. _Okay, not calming down_. “You weren't there those first few weeks when everyone disappeared. It was chaos. Total chaos. This would do it all over again. You can't just hand wave that away!"

"What, you'd rather revert it?"

Michelle thinks about it for a full two seconds, "Yes, in fact I would."

"So you would be okay with removing all children age 4 and under from existence?"

Her prior readings into the nature of time have given her some perspective on this kind of thing. What he's saying is technically true in a sense, but also they'll be born again. It's not like birth rates were very high after Thanos. The vast majority of survivors lost their significant others. The ones that were lucky simply didn't want to try and raise a child when the state of the world was in flux.

"Are you okay with ignoring all the people who couldn't cope and killed themselves? Do you even know how big that number is?" she counters with her own question. After Peter had started trying to help people like Wendy, Michelle had done a surprising amount of research into the topic.

Tony clenches his jaw. "Tell me," he challenges, "would you be so willing to revert it if it killed Peter?"

Her mouth clamps shut with an audible click.

"That's what I thought. You're just lucky you're not the one with something to lose."

Morgan beats Peter in their contest. No one celebrates.

 

 

 

Research progress into stabilizing the use of the Quantum Realm slows to non-existent. He never says it outright, but Peter's heart suddenly isn't in it so much anymore after her argument with Tony. Even conversations between Peter and Michelle are less involved and muted.

She thinks she may have made a big mistake.

Michelle contemplates going back and apologizing for a few days, but she isn't sure if she'd mean it. Reverting everything sounds like the right solution to her, but Tony's solution is better than none at all. Considering that Peter doesn't seem to like the idea of going behind his back, she'll just have to compromise.

Perhaps it's fate when Tony Stark shows up at the door of the Sanctum.

“Hi?” Michelle greets uncertainly before letting Tony inside. “Peter's not here right now.”

“That's fine. I'm here for you,” he tells her. He steps in and takes a look around. Tony doesn't come over here much for various reasons. A large part of it is her own assumption that he just likes staying further away from the city now that he's effectively retired aside from working on his company.

“I'm sorry,” she blurts out before allowing her mind to think too hard about if she really wanted to do that.

Tony turns back to her with a long stare and sighs. “Pepper overheard our little argument.”

Michelle cringes a bit. Hopefully she didn't cause problems with their marriage. “What did she say?” she asks.

“Her exact words were: 'Those two have grown up a lot into good people, Tony. Peter's aunt and Michelle's parents deserved the chance to see it happen.'”

That's one way of looking at it. With Tony's plan, her parents would come back, but it would be weird for them. Michelle is older now. She's moved out and starting to live her own life. She'd see even less of them than ever before and maybe never get a chance to really reconcile with them. The same could be said for May. Peter wouldn't be living with her anymore and the sudden change would practically give her whiplash.

“She wants you to turn it all back?” she asks.

“Much to my displeasure. Unfortunately, she wears the pants in my house so she tends to get her way a lot.”

Michelle lets out a breath she was holding. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up so soon. We still have to get everyone else on board with the same plan. There's one ground rule I'm setting on this though,” Tony states firmly. “If this is the one possible future where we win – if this is Strange's ultimate plan – him and I are going to have problems if his plan involves me losing part of my family.”

She can't blame him in the slightest and doesn't think she would try to stop him.

On Tony's way out the door, he stops, “You know, I almost adopted Peter. I had the paperwork ready and everything. All I needed to do was talk to him about it. Then I realized that I was excited.”

After a pause he goes on, “I wish I could claim that he's my kid, but he's not. He's May's. So when I realized that I was excited about the fact that a very good, loving woman was dead, I got disgusted with myself and tore up the papers.”

That's kind of fascinating. “He knows. Not about the adoption, but...” Michelle trails off, not wanting to explicitly say the words. “You mean a lot to him. He owes you a lot. Hell, I owe you a lot.”

Tony nods and points between the two of them, “You and I, we're not that close. Not like I am with Peter. We both get that. You're more like a weird family friend. But I can't pretend that bringing everyone back alive to now is the best choice for you two. Pep is right. May deserves all the time she can get with Peter. I need to give her back the time I stole.”

Many years ago, Michelle used to think that Tony Stark was an asshole. He was a dick on TV interviews and had his name plastered all over the world. She thinks she can see him better now for who he is.

“Every now and then, I start to think you're a good person, Stark. You probably should leave before I change my mind.”

With a grin, Tony steps outside, slides on his sunglasses in an overly dramatic fashion and closes the door behind him.

“Still a bit of a dick sometimes,” she mutters to herself.

 

 

 

Things begin falling into place. Tony meets up with Steve, Natasha, Peter, and Bruce to talk about it. Peter wavered a little on the idea of reverting time because he loves Morgan too, but goes along with it. Surprisingly, the others don't really care about the exact details on the “how”. Steve and Natasha especially could have gone either way. Tony ends up pointing out that they'd be fugitives again, but Steve doesn't care. Everything sorted itself out once and it'll happen again.

Michelle would never forgive herself if she didn't participate in the mission to save the universe so she prepares to practically bully her way in, but no one questions her presence at the compound. No one tries to tell her that she shouldn't be there. It's nice.

The device that Tony created to facilitate travel through the Quantum Realm is like a large watch. She doesn't have a clue how it works.

“Just put it on and tap the face twice. It'll take care of the rest.” Tony explains.

Michelle does so. A white and black suit with red highlights flows out of the watch over her body. She's seen nanotech plenty of times in Peter's suits and his own work in his lab, but she's never used it herself. It feels weird.

It's also the ugliest thing she's ever seen.

“Nope. I will not be seen wearing this,” she demands of Stark.

He just rolls his eyes at her, “Relax. Hit the button on the side.”

After doing so, all the nanites in the suit reform into something more familiar. Instead of what she was wearing moments ago, it has transformed into her usual yellow sorceress robes. It even feels like normal cloth.

How the fuck does it work? This is some serious bullshit.

“Right. Okay. This is acceptable I suppose,” she allows, trying to pretend that she's not utterly baffled as to how crazy Stark's cutting edge technology is.

Tony sees right though her and laughs.

 

 

 

Word gets out quick. A couple of days later, Nebula and Rocket show up from space followed by Rhodey shortly after. Rocket leaves with Bruce to go pick up Thor from New Asgard in Norway and Natasha goes off somewhere without much of an explanation.

This leaves Tony and Peter to handle much of the initial construction of a larger quantum tunnel than the one in Scott's van. The whole idea of what's going to happen still sounds silly to her. They're going to wear special suits that shrink their bodies to such a small size that they access a space where normal logic and physics no longer apply. Then, using some kind of special device Tony made, they can navigate that space to travel time.

God, that sounds absurd.

All in all, there isn't actually that much for her to do right now. Michelle spends some time thinking about how best to prepare and winds up doing a lot of refresher study from the Book of Cagliostro. Retrieving the Time Stone may require her to be able to open the Eye of Agamotto so she needs to know how to do that. Aside from that, she largely waits.

“You okay?” Peter asks as he sits down beside her. He's taking a break. Michelle is cashing in on nearly all of her favors owed to her by getting people to watch the Sanctum while she's gone. Wong is probably starting to get suspicious.

“Yeah? Should something be wrong?” she asks cautiously.

“Nope, just checking. Want to have a big, scary conversation with me?”

That's ominous. Michelle puts on a fake thoughtful face. “Depends. Will I be running away, screaming?”

He pretends to think about it for a moment, “That's actually a possibility.”

“I guess I'll have to deal with it then,” she lightly comments, hoping that he's overreacting.

Peter rubs his hands along his pants to wipe off sweat. “You remember me talking to you before about Parker Luck?” he asks.

Michelle furrows her brow. “That's the catch-all excuse you would use whenever anything goes wrong, right?”

“First of all, ouch.” he says with a light laugh. “I had some big plans that got scrapped when the Avengers all showed up and this big plan got started.”

That confirms her theory about why he looked so upset that day. “What kind of plans?” she fishes for information.

Peter pauses for a long time, seeming to waver back and forth on if he should answer the question. Eventually, he says, “I had a whole day planned out for us. There was a bunch of cheesy romantic stuff you'd hate ready to go and then at the end of it I was going to ask you to marry me.”

Um.

Um.

What.

Michelle's brain short circuits for a few moments because _oh my god this is really happening_.

“You can still do that,” she slowly says. Why is he acting like he can't do that anymore?

He makes sure to try and keep eye contact with her as he goes all in, “If we pull this off though, we'll be teenagers again. We'll be too young and it'll get complicated.”

Torn between feeling furious at Peter for dangling this in front of her and agreeing that he has a point, Michelle's mind melts down at the utter stupidity of this turn of events.

“May,” Peter's face cracks in various emotions at the reminder of her death, “She wouldn't understand.”

That's fair. Her own parents would probably be pretty judgmental about it if she married right out of high school.

“I wouldn't be living in the Sanctum anymore so I can't give us a free place to stay,” Michelle carefully says, trying to broach her big issue. “I'm never going to be independently wealthy. I hope you know that.”

“MJ, I've known that for years. Is this what's been bothering you? That's like, the last thing I could possibly care about. We'll figure it out.” Is it really that simple? Michelle doesn't think it is, but maybe some things can be taken on faith alone.

To think that if this hadn't come up, she'd be engaged right now. “Parker Luck, huh,” she says out loud to herself.

Fuck it. She's not letting this chance slide by.

“You can still ask, you know,” Michelle hints to him while making sure to hold eye contact, trying to get some kind of positive outcome out of this conversation.

He maintains contact as well. “Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years,” Peter asks lowly.

She thinks she might be crying a little. “Peter, I've invaded other dimensions for you. I can wait.”

There's a ring, of course. She doesn't look at it. It's not important. His eyes tell her everything she wants to know.

“Michelle Jones, will you marry me in approximately negative two or three years?”

Negative two or three years. Even after all this time, he's still a loser.

“Of course, you dork.”

Peter doesn't return from his break until the next day which prompts a few confused voicemails from Tony.

 

 

 

The remaining people that are to be involved start showing up. Natasha returns with a man she doesn't recognize, but Peter immediately identifies him as Clint Barton – Hawkeye. Bruce and Rocket return with Thor. Peter and Clint actually hit it off fairly well once he explains that he's Spider-Man.

Thor is... not what she expected. He's overweight, depressed, and seemingly in a constant state of light intoxication. His hair and beard are a mess. If it wasn't for the fact that this doesn't seem to bother everyone else, Michelle would be extremely concerned. Is he even still able to fight?

Construction finishes around this time so the first order of business to make sure time travel actually works. No point in wasting everyone's time with planning if it's not possible. Clint offers to be the test subject.

Michelle moves next to Peter and holds his hand for the moment of truth. This is what it all comes down to. She put the ring on, but no one's honestly noticed or commented on it and they don't want to distract everyone by making a big scene. There are bigger things at play right now.

After a countdown, Clint vanishes from the large staging platform. Five seconds later, he returns, albeit disoriented. After Natasha helps him to his feet, he reports that it works.

The hope Michelle has been holding on to rages.

 

 

 

Immediately, everyone switches to the planning phase and moves into a conference room. Displays of the six Infinity Stones appear on the wall with all known info about them.

“Okay, so the how works,” Steve begins. “Now we've got to figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones.”

“Or, substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one,” Tony chimes in.

Bruce brings up another worrying point, “Pym Particles are used as the fuel to make it work and we don't have a lot of them. We'll only get one shot at this.”

So they begin to plot out everything they know about the different stones, primarily focusing on optimal places and times they could be taken from. Surprisingly, Steve calls Michelle up first.

“I don't believe I know who you are,” Clint comments as Michelle gets up.

She probably should introduce herself. She's never spoken with a few of these people before. Specifically Nebula, Thor, and Clint. “Michelle Jones, Master of the Mystic Arts.”

He seems confused and looks over to Natasha. “Magic,” she explains to him.

“Oh. Cool,” is all Clint says, completely taking it in stride. Michelle assumes he's probably seen enough weird shit in his time.

“A witch?” Thor jumps in. “I met a wizard here once, but was not aware there were more.”

“I prefer the term 'sorceress'.” No one else says anything so she gets started.

One of the best things Wong ever taught her was how to do the image projection spell. It's phenomenal for teaching. Rather than using the electronic displays, Michelle creates her own via an illusion. Taking a breath, she begins the lecture, “The Time Stone has been kept by the Masters of the Mystic Arts for thousands of years. As such, it's my responsibility to get it. It's always been on Earth in roughly the same location: Either in Kamar-Taj or with the Sorcerer Supreme.”

“Where is that, exactly?” Natasha asks.

That's kind of supposed to be a secret. She bounces back and forth on deciding if she should reveal it before thinking it's probably okay given the circumstances. “Kathmandu,” is all she says.

Getting back to the debrief, “The Time Stone was last held by Stephen Strange, but only recently. He became a sorcerer in 2016. Prior to that, the one in charge is this woman, known only as The Ancient One.” Her projection shifts to display the same bald woman that Wong showed her when he offered the position of Master.

“She looks pretty good for being called 'ancient',” Tony comments.

“It's rumored that she was about 700 years old. She kept herself immortal by using power from the Dark Dimension.”

“Dark Dimension? You've got to be kidding me. That sounds made up,” Clint says dismissively.

Thor cuts in, sitting up and suddenly interested, “Oh, it's a real place. She must be quite powerful. You think you are strong enough to fight her?”

Michelle stands firm, “I think I stand the best chance out of all of us.”

“I have faced many a witch in my time, what makes this one so different?” the god argues.

Annoyed by Thor second guessing her, Michelle answers, “There are a lot of spells and techniques that you wouldn't be able to deal with unless you were familiar with them.”

“Show me,” Thor demands. Why does he want to fight The Ancient One so bad?

Well, he asked for it. Sliding on her sling ring, Michelle opens a portal beneath his chair and he falls through before he even registers what is happening. Thor is now gone. Gone from the Physical Realm actually. An awkward silence descends upon the room.

Peter might be laughing a little. It spreads to a few others.

“So, we can have him back, right?” Rhodey asks.

“I did what he wanted,”

“Please bring Thor back,” Steve gets out, exasperated, and puts his head in his hands.

Motioning her hand in a circle, Michelle creates a new portal on the ceiling. As expected, Thor falls through and slams into the ground where he was sitting previously. A second later, the chair follows and lands on him with a grunt.

“I believe,” he says as he gets up and sets the chair back, “that I owe my brother an apology.”

 

 

 

No one questions her claim to the Time Stone.

The group decides to try and get the Space and Mind stones at the same time from the 2012 New York invasion. That means three stones will be on Earth and three will be in space. The question is, when is the best time to try and get the Time Stone?

If she were to go all out war, the optimal time to assault Kamar-Taj would probably be immediately after The Ancient One died. Lots of sorcerers lost their lives in the attacks and Strange wouldn't be strong enough to effectively take her place yet. The problem with that strategy is that she doesn't want to kill anyone. Killing a past Strange would probably doom that timeline.

This leaves going to a time right before Thanos arrived and trying to talk Strange into giving her the stone or going back to 2012 with the others and trying to talk The Ancient One into giving it to her. Both have flaws. Frankly, she has no idea how either person would react. There is a reasonable chance of conflict and she'll only get backup if she goes to 2012 with the others so she agrees to go back to then.

“So who's going where?” Rhodey asks. “I don't mind going to space, but I already called 'Not It' on Vormir,”

“Drifting in one broken down spaceship was enough for me,” Tony says. “I'm staying on Earth, thank you very much.”

There's a lot of back and forth. Some spots are automatically filled due people with knowledge of the area needing to be involved. As such, Thor goes to Asgard for the Reality Stone. Rocket or Nebula need to go to Morag since they're the two that best know Peter Quill just in case something goes wrong. A big problem is Vormir.

“We really have no idea how to get the Soul Stone other than a rough idea of where it is?” Peter asks. “I've seen the Time Stone once or twice, but that's it. I could go to Vormir.”

Natasha disagrees, “You're more useful in urban areas. Lots of things to climb. You're probably best off in Asgard or New York.”

“Fair,” he concedes, leaning back in his chair.

People end up pairing off with others that they've worked with in the past. Rocket goes with Thor to Asgard. Natasha and Clint opt to go to Vormir, but it's hotly debated.

“You sure? We've no idea what's waiting for you,” Steve cautions.

“Sounds like he just went there and found the stone. No fighting at all. A couple of spies are best for that kind of action.” Clint defends himself.

Rhodey and Nebula pair up for the Power Stone. This leaves six people for New York. Except, there's a problem.

“Since there's only three different time periods involved, it'll be a lot easier to return the stones. We're still low on Pym Particles though. One of us will have to stay behind. That should probably be me since I'm most familiar with the tech involved aside from Tony. I can pull anyone back if needed.” Bruce explains.

After some thought, Tony agrees, “It'd be hard for you to blend in back in 2012. You're cuddly now.”

With that, the planning phase finishes and they break to make their own arrangements, collect gear, or otherwise get a good night's sleep. The mission starts tomorrow.

_One chance to get the Time Stone from The Ancient One by any means necessary. I hope I don't fuck this up._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple notes:  
> Peter's survival causes interesting changes in how Tony joins the fight. Hopefully it's believable.
> 
> I love the idea of Peter's attempted proposal being screwed up in such an absurd way.
> 
> The reason Thor is aggressive about fighting The Ancient One ties into the same reason he wanted to be the one to use the gauntlet instead of Bruce. He just wants to feel useful and do something good for the first time in so long. A simple way to accomplish that is fight a powerful foe. Not like there's going to be any fighting on Asgard. Obviously Michelle doesn't know about Thor's problems so it doesn't make a lot of sense to her.
> 
> EDIT: Additional note - The thing about messing with time causing dimensional instability is canon. When Mordo and Wong catch Strange testing out the Eye of Agamotto, Mordo says "Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings."


	5. Chapter 5

"I hate it here."

Michelle can't find it within herself to disagree. It's a creepy and unsettling place. When the monuments to memorialize the lost were built, decisions were made to build them in various local areas for each city rather than trying to put them all in one central location. This made it easier for people to come visit the people they mourn on a regular basis rather than having to make an extensive trip to DC or wherever it would have gone. The location chosen for Queens is in a cemetery. Perhaps it's appropriate, but it's eerie.

Each person lost is engraved on large stone tablets. Before Michelle rests the names of her parents. Theresa and Franklin Jones.

"You okay?" Peter checks on her and pulls Michelle closer to him.

A nod. "When this," she waves helplessly to the large stone monuments, "happened, there were a ton of car wrecks right outside my apartment. People were dying or injured in the streets and I was having a breakdown in my bedroom. I was trying to hide away from it all. When I went out the next morning to look for everyone, I think a few of them still had bodies inside and I just didn't want to mentally acknowledge it. I had enough guilt on my plate as it was."

Peter tries to make it better with a quick kiss and saying, "I don't think anyone could blame you."

It doesn't work. "I wish I could believe that."

The mission to retrieve the Infinity Stones from the past starts in 5 hours. It's currently just after dawn and they've come out to see their old friends and family. Michelle wanted to remind herself why she's doing this.

“You once told me you had a debt to the universe.” Michelle jabs a finger at the names of her parents, “This is mine. A very literal debt to everyone I've let down. That's why I need to do this. It's why I need to go and see this through.”

Peter doesn't say anything. Michelle has learned he's not a big fan of graveyards. Losing his parents and then his uncle has led to too many unhappy memories here that he doesn't want to relive.

“Did you go say hi to May?” she asks.

He shakes his head, “I went to go see Ben since he's nearby, but not May.”

Michelle isn't sure how to interpret that. “Why not?”

“I'll be able to do it in person soon enough.”

 

 

 

The Avengers compound has the full team inside, but it's quiet. No one is speaking and likely mentally preparing themselves or gathering gear. Michelle herself had made two more stops before arriving.

The first stop was to Kamar-Taj to have a long chat with Wong about what's going on just in case the worst comes to pass. As expected, he thinks the entire plan is unwise, but simultaneously thinks that it needs to be done. When they part, Michelle makes sure to thank him for everything he did for her. Wong really didn't need to take her in when she had nowhere else to go, but he did it anyway.

The second stop was back to the New York Sanctum to grab a couple relics that might help. There's actually only one thing she really wants to bring, but the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak are a little too awkwardly shaped to carry around. To help, she grabs a magical pouch that expands to hold any item and is larger on the inside than out. Peter calls it a Bag of Holding in reference to a similar Dungeons and Dragons item. It's actually an apt name.

When everyone is ready, they meet in the hangar and huddle up. Everyone is wearing their own suit that navigates the Quantum Realm. Bruce has one on too just in case, but he's staying behind.

In full Captain America mode, Steve gives the pregame speech, “Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back.”

Michelle has heard recordings of big speeches he's heard before and she'll admit, he's really damn good at it. Maybe she's a bit biased, but she prefers the kinds of speeches that Peter gives.

“One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck,” Steve finishes.

The time machine they made is on a large staging platform. Next to it is a small lab where the suits and Pym Particles were stored.

“Oh, wait!” Peter speaks up before they get on to the platform, “Um, I've got some stuff for my team. MJ is frequently in other planes of existence so I had to make some new communicators that work across dimensions. It gets a little fuzzy the further away from our reality she gets, but it's the best I have right now”

He passes out new earpieces to Stark, Lang, and Rogers. It's true. A couple years ago he got fed up with sometimes losing touch with her when they worked together so he spent a ton of time doing analysis and managed to find a way to make it work. He even invented a visual detection layer that can tell where Michelle is, but it only works in dimensions very close to the normal world like the Mirror Dimension or the Astral Plane.

“You invented communicators that work across dimensions and never told me?” Tony fakes being stabbed through the heart, but there's obvious pride in his voice.

Strangely, she doesn't feel nervous at all. Honestly, the thing she's most worried about is if something breaks on her watch thing and she gets stuck in the past or something. It's not like they did many test runs.

Everyone stands in place. As Bruce gives the countdown, the last thing Michelle hears is Natasha's voice, “See you in a minute.”

And they're gone.

 

 

 

The Quantum Realm is nothing like what she expected. Their group flies through blue tunnels of sorts and slowly break apart into their teams. Before she even registers what's going on, they're out.

Chaos. Aliens are flying around in the skies, destroying buildings and everything in sight.

This is New York, 2012. The Chitauri Invasion. It worked. Jesus Christ. Time travel is a real thing. Michelle is going to need to hunt down and blow up every last trace of this technology when this is over. This has so many bad long term repercussions.

The five of them are in an alley together. Scott, Steve, Tony, Peter, and herself. Nearby, the Hulk of the past passes and pounds a couple aliens into dust.

“Alright everyone, time to go. Michelle, can you open the portals?” Steve asks.

They had made some plans. While she's going to be busy with her own stone, she can at least get the others to where they need to go. They gave her old recordings of what the locations looked like so it's easy to do. All four of them are just going in or around Stark Tower. A few moments later, Michelle is alone.

The current Guardian of the New York Sanctum is Master Drumm. Her plan is to go there, introduce herself and try and get a quick audience with The Ancient One. If needed, she could always just portal right into Kamar-Taj, but that would set a very bad first impression if caught. Regardless, it's an option.

Stepping through a portal to the front door of the Sanctum, Michelle knocks on the door. No answer. She considers that he might be taking shelter considering the war raging above them in the skies, but the sound of fighting can be heard above her on the roof. Drumm must be participating directly in defense of the city.

However, when she gets there, it's not Drumm waiting for her but rather The Ancient One herself throwing conjured weapons at the invaders flying nearby. Around her neck is the Eye of Agamotto. This must be Michelle's lucky day.

She approaches the woman, “Excuse me, my name-”

The Ancient One notices her and interrupts, “Now, this is a surprise. Michelle Jones, here five years too early. Your presence implies many things.”

"You know me?" Michelle narrows her eyes.

"A student of Stephen Strange is bound to draw attention. You have a very notable life to live," The Ancient One explains. With a wave of her hand, she conjures an image showing Michelle's very first time she used the Mystic Arts. Despite it currently being 2012 in this world, the illusion plays out exactly like it had in her memories. Her past self closes her eyes, clearly drifting off into a daydream, then half forms a portal and runs away.

More Time Stone nonsense. This whole thing about looking into the future is getting old. Michelle gets to the point, "Great, then you know why I'm here. Why don't you just give me the Time Stone so that I can go save the universe?"

This appears to bring The Ancient One up short, "I'm sorry, did I hear that right? Surely you must be aware that I cannot give it to you."

What? "You know who I am, but not why I came here? You're the one who is seeing the future."

The older woman begins to pace, "I am not an all knowing seer. Yes, I know much about upcoming events, but only up to a point. For 300 years, I have known exactly when I will die. Beyond that, vision is hazy and the path is difficult to ascertain. I can see glimpses of accomplishments and trials, but never the full picture. You appear a matter of months after my death where things are still clear."

"Okay," Michelle follows the other woman as she walks around and begins slowly. _Be polite. Try and get some sympathy points or something._ "In the future, an alien warlord invades Earth and takes the Infinity Stones we have. He gets all six and uses them to destroy half of the universe."

She pauses to let that soak in before continuing, "We found a way to travel time so that we could come back to the past and get new stones. I need it to bring trillions of people back to life. Can I borrow it for a few moments? I promise I'll bring it right back."

The refusal is nearly immediate, "Again, you know I cannot give it to you. It will be required to defend again future threats. Your word is simply not enough to trust that it will be returned. You know this."

"Do you think I want to keep the stone? I hate it. You and Strange, knowing the future is creepy. He even admitted he used it to subtly manipulate things just so I would take up training."

"He did more than that," The Ancient One reveals. "A friend of yours will meet Strange by assisting him in battle, but does so by entering the Mirror Dimension via a gateway that Strange left open intentionally. He knew where it would lead. To you. Three weeks later, your friend takes you to Strange and the rest is history. Or the future in my case."

Of course. Of fucking course. How did she not see that coming? The odds of Peter randomly stumbling into a Mirror Dimension gateway are unfathomable. The logical conclusion is that Strange had left it open, but she never followed that train of thought to the idea of it being intentional to trigger a meeting between them.

Seriously, fuck the Time Stone. Maybe Thanos had a point when destroying them.

"Yeah, that right there? That whole thing about manipulating the future? That's a whole lot of bullshit I don't want any part in. I will gladly return the stone the moment we're done. I swear. Trillions of lives are riding on this. Please," Michelle nearly begs.

She gets no response.

A missile flies by above them. Underneath it is Iron Man, pushing it up through the wormhole. It's interesting seeing everything from this perspective. Michelle doesn't think she was old enough to truly appreciate just how insane this whole thing was. In one day, the existence of aliens was revealed to the whole world. Superheroes (aside from Iron Man) existed and could save the day. The mythology of Thor and Loki was proven to be real.

"They'll call themselves the Avengers," The Ancient One muses as she also watches the scene go by.

"I work with them sometimes," Michelle offers, trying to find some common ground to work with.

"Truly? We have lived in secrecy for thousands of years for good reason. Has it not caused you issues being so public with the Mystic Arts? Just look around. They are obviously not a subtle group."

Well, yeah. Calling them not subtle is fair, but this isn't a good example. It's not like it's the fault of the Avengers that the city is covered in rubble. Considering the alternative was having the city nuked off the map, this was the much better choice.

The younger sorceress shrugs, "It's not like anyone knows specifically who I am, but no. No problems. Science is crazy now. I understand the basics of a lot of it, but the kinds of things that can be done are so far beyond anything anyone dreamed of 20 years ago. Just look at the Avengers. Compared to them, the Mystic Arts are pretty normal."

In the distance, the Hulk leaps up into the sky and catches a falling Iron Man.

The idea of possibly working in a more public fashion appears to intrigue The Ancient One, "How often do you meet with them?"

"Um, I get occasional calls from a raccoon that lives in outer space. Sometimes I do some consulting on occult stuff for Captain America and Black Widow. The Avengers are the ones who created the time machine. I'm involved to come here and try to convince you to give me the Time Stone." Michelle gestures towards the Stark Tower in the distance, "Some of the others are over there picking up the Mind and Space Stones."

Informing her about the other stones being stolen turns out to be a massive mistake. Suddenly alarmed, the Sorcerer Supreme looks to her and demands, "You will call them off immediately. I cannot let you take them."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Michelle repositions herself between The Ancient One and the Stark Tower. Trying to not panic at the the thought of the powerful sorceress interfering, she stands her ground, "And I can't let you stop us."

It's a sudden reversal of positions and now The Ancient One takes on a more guarded stance, almost as if preparing to strike if needed.

_I've screwed up pretty bad, haven't I? There's no way to avoid this fight now._

She can't get any backup just yet. The Space and Time Stones need to be stolen in a very narrow timeframe. Peter is providing recon while the others are sneaking around inside of the tower. Michelle can't pull any of them away from that until after. For now, she's on her own.

Before this gets underway, Michelle needs to gauge something first, "I've always wondered. I was told that you invested a lot into Strange. Something about thinking he'd be the next big thing. Is he better than you?"

"He'll be the best of us."

"Good. Then I stand a chance." And honestly, that is a relief. If Strange was/is/will be (who knows anymore) more powerful than the current Sorcerer Supreme, then there's a non-zero chance that she could win this.

Michelle rolls her head around and starts to do some quick warm up stretches while the older woman watches. "Do you truly intend to try and take the stone by force?" The Ancient One asks, largely impassive, but somewhat curious.

"I've got one chance to save trillions of lives and it's around your neck. If you won't give it to me, I'll just have to try." Michelle finishes her warm ups and with some quick hand signals and motions of her arms, forms a pair of shields for each hand. "Bring it," she challenges.

_I can't kill her. She's too important. All I need is to get the stone off of her and then I can leave._

"Very well." With a single tap of a finger the air cracks and transports them to the Mirror Dimension.

The Ancient One is fast. In nearly the blink of an eye, she traverses the roof of the Sanctum and has already formed a pair of weapons for each hand. They take the form of half-circles. Almost like old war fans. Not expecting the speed, Michelle barely blocks the first hit before getting used to it. The Sorcerer Supreme has had possibly a millennia of experience in combat with conjured weapons and it shows. Every action flows perfectly into the next at a pace that Michelle can barely keep up with. All she can do is keep blocking and slowly lose ground.

Step back. Block high. Low. Side. Step back. She needs to retreat. Try and get out of close combat to go for a new strategy. Taking another step back, her foot comes to the edge of the roof. Not seeing any other option, she takes a step off the edge. And hovers. Her boots form a foothold to stand on.

The Ancient One stops and raises an eyebrow, "Oh? I believe those do not belong to you."

"They do now." It's probably not to tell her that she had a hand in killing Mordo. He's still one of her students.

The air is the safest place at the moment, so Michelle retreats to a building across the alley to create space. Expecting her opponent to open a portal to follow her, she ends up dumbfounded when something completely different happens.

"You have got to be kidding me," Michelle mutters to herself.

Reality throughout the Mirror Dimension is fully under The Ancient One's control. Rather than create a portal over to the opposite roof where Michelle is, the older woman stretches out one arm as if to wave and the world shifts. The Sanctum stretches and becomes larger until the gap between their buildings no longer exists and melds into the same rooftop.

Needing to keep her distance from The Ancient One, Michelle forms a glyph and slams a palm onto the roof. Ice sprawls out in all directions and covers everything it touches. The Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon was originally meant as a spell to freeze someone solid, but Michelle found other uses for it when working with Peter. His inherent stickiness keeps him from sliding on ice and the power of Michelle's boots allows her to run just above the ground to avoid it. It's a perfect way to establish terrain control.

The older woman impassively watches as everything is covered in ice within eighty meters. Pausing for a moment to avoid slipping, she instead casts her first traditional spell since the start of the fight. From her palms, jets of green fire blast out and instantly melt all nearby ice. Michelle recognizes the spell as the Flames of Faltine. The flames surge towards Michelle, but she already has a plan. Throwing wind into fire is not always a good idea, but if you want to control it instead of put it out, it's not a bad strategy. With the same winding motion she practiced a week ago, she summons the Winds of Watoomb again and immediately begins twisting them together. It grows and grows until it begins to take the form of a tornado. It's a positive feedback loop. Crashing into the oncoming flames, the tornado catches and redirects the flames into itself. The now flaming twister continues on it's path towards The Ancient One. Michelle follows up close behind it to try and press her attack as she conjures a weapon.

But her charge is cut short. Like before with the expanding Sanctum, The Ancient One shapes her own reality. The world itself turns sideways. Up is now to the right. Left is the ground. Down is... not the Sanctum.

With gravity no longer pointed towards the roof they were fighting on, Michelle falls. And falls. When she lands, she finds herself on the side of a skyscraper with her opponent nowhere in sight. It's surreal. To her right is the sky. If she slips from the skyscraper in this sideways world, she could fall forever.

Suddenly, in an incredible display of power, buildings all around her begin to break apart into segments. The one she's standing on breaks into at least a hundred pieces and are sent in all directions. All of them become their own independent flying platform and circle around. In the sky, these parts reform into a small colosseum and Michelle is carried right inside of it. In the center is The Ancient One, her white robes now darkened from burns indicating the damage Michelle had managed to inflict on her.

There is, however, a bright smile on her face. "My, my. It is good to see that things have been left behind in such capable hands."

_I had no idea she had such a command over the Mirror Dimension. This is nuts. Is this due to the Dark Dimension power she uses?_

There's not a lot of mobility in the small space. Seeing that she'll have to resort to close combat again, Michelle forms another shield on her left hand and a whip on her right. The Ancient One does the exact same.

"Good to see that you think that. Clearly, if I'm so capable, you can trust me to return the stone," because really, Michelle has to try.

They're talking in circles. The same arguments over and over. The Ancient One refuses her again, "And I am simply to take your word for it? The Eye of Agamotto has been the sole reason we have been able to stop many disasters from befalling our world. I am fully aware that it will be needed when Stephen Strange arrives to stop Dormammu."

Michelle opens with a low sweep which is easily dodged with a jump. She blocks the high attack that follows.

"Why do you care so much about Strange? Why him?" she wonders, frustrated that things are going so badly.

The Ancient One is still calm, "I told you already. He'll be the best of us."

"He's dead! You're the one with the Time Stone! Did you see that coming? You spend all this time talking him up and then he's dead within two years!" Michelle sarcastically shouts out between attacks.

The new information briefly catches The Ancient One off guard and seeing an opening, Michelle drops both the shield and whip to form a large two handed magical hammer. She swings it as hard as she can and the Sorcerer Supreme catches herself before it impacts, but is forced to block. The impact is powerful enough to crack the shield.

The two break apart from each other for a moment and Michelle catches her breath. "You don't think I can be trusted with the stone. Then I'll just have to prove it to you. I have one chance. That's it. One chance to bring everyone I've ever cared about back to life. I'm not going to let this chance go by!"

In response, The Ancient One ramps things up even more. The walls of their makeshift colosseum begin closing in and clamping down, crushing anything near the edges. In maybe a minute, there won't be any more room to fight and Michelle will likely be dead. She could always just leave via a portal back to the real world, but she can't afford to. There's no way to get the stone without going into The Ancient One's turf. Plus, she might go off and stop the other Avengers from getting the Space and Mind stones if Michelle retreats.

"Please do not make me kill you. You still have so much to offer for your life to be cut short here. Just walk away and go back to your own time. Accept your losses and move on," she requests.

In an attempt to try and stop the walls from closing in, Michelle recasts the Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon and freezes the floor and walls. It somewhat works and buys her more time. Just like before, The Ancient One begins countering with the Flames of Faltine again, but Michelle is closer this time and expects it. Managing to make it within striking distance before the spell can be completed, she lashes out with her whip and lands a single, solid hit right into her chest.

The blow staggers her back and the ice causes her to slip and fall. Pressing her advantage, Michelle jumps high into the air for a follow up attack. From her position on the ground, The Ancient One waves her right arm to control reality and a small piece of a wall juts out at incredible speed, stretching towards Michelle to hit her in the air. Creating another air foothold, Michelle jumps again in the air to dodge, but this slight delay gives The Ancient One the time she needed.

With Michelle now in the air directly above the Sorcerer Supreme, she looks down and sees that she's just finished another cast of the Flames aimed straight up at her. Too close to counter with any spell, Michelle expands her shield as large as she can and prays it holds. Green flames lick the edges of her robes for several seconds and burn up parts of the cloth, but she comes out mostly unscathed.

The walls and floor are now free of the ice. In less than 15 seconds she'll be crushed to death.

_What do I do? What do I do?_

Ever the picture of serenity, The Ancient One says, "The future is lucky to have you, Michelle Jones. Understand that I cannot let you do this. Protecting this stone is the single most important duty of our order. If I must allow many others to die so that we can keep it safe, then so be it."

Frustrated and panicking due to being out of time, Michelle forces herself to make another whip and go for another charge. "Then why did he give the stone away!?" she screams out as she approaches.

Just like Michelle's previous claim about Strange's death, this one stuns her entirely. Her arms slacken somewhat, her eyes no longer focused, mouth open in surprise and shock. With her target left completely open, Michelle lunges and strikes with her whip. It falls millimeters short.

But that was the point.

The target wasn't The Ancient One. It was the Eye of Agamotto. Latching onto the chain, Michelle pulls back before any reaction can take place. It's ripped off and comes right to Michelle.

She studied its protections.

She knows the spells required.

Extend pointer and middle finger on each hand. Spread arms apart.

The eye opens.

The green light of the stone shines.

And time.

Stops.

 

 

 

Michelle doesn't blink. Doesn't dare move her eyes away for fear that it might not be real. Inches from her face is one of The Ancient One's small conjured war fans, frozen in the air. If it had taken a tenth of a second longer to open the Eye, she'd be dead. Stepping to the side and reaching into her bag, Michelle pulls out the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and attaches it to The Ancient One. It's a detaining device, intended to lock people down and hold them in place. The bands spread all along her body like a cage and contort her into a helpless keeling position. After it's done, Michelle closes the Eye.

And time starts again.

The Sorcerer Supreme is secured and unharmed. Time Stone acquired. Mission Accomplished.

Michelle plops down on the ground to rest for a moment.  "I need a vacation.  A real one," she grumbles to herself.

There's a mumble coming from The Ancient One, but it can't be understood. The binding relic tying her down has a mouth guard that keeps her from talking. Seeing no harm in it, Michelle removes it. She can always just put it back if the woman gets annoying.

The Ancient One almost seems apologetic, "I believe I may have made a mistake."

"Yeah," Michelle comments dryly, "you're trapped in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. I know how uncomfortable it is."

"Tell me, Strange gave the stone away willingly?"

Lightly surprised that she doesn't seem to care about being bound and tied down, Michelle answers, "Yeah. He looked into the future, saw a path to saving the universe, and then gave up the stone. We're banking pretty hard on this being that path."

"Very well, you can take the stone. You understand the ramifications if you do not return it," The Ancient One says finally after a long sigh.

Michelle feels dumb for having to say it because really, what the hell does she think she can do from that position? "Um, you're bound on your knees and unable to move. I'm holding the stone. At this point, giving me permission is just a formality," she points out.

With a small whistle in a series of tones, the Eye of Agamotto vanishes from around Michelle's neck and appears back around Sorcerer Supreme's. The older woman gives a smirk back, even from her defenseless position, "Did you really think that I would have all defenses on such an important relic written down?"

Annoyed, Michelle stomps over and takes the Eye back.

"Alright, time to send the old lady home," Michelle grinds out. Really, she needs to get out of here and get back to her own time. Any further delays are just more possibilities for disaster.

Before she opens the portal to dump the trapped sorceress back in Kamar-Taj, The Ancient One speaks up, "I've looked as as far into the future as I could for many of my students or others that stood out to me. Do you want to know what glimpses I saw in yours?"

Michelle is briefly stunned by the unexpected question, "Not really."

Ever since her talk with Peter about possibly using the Time Stone to see her own future, Michelle has been a pretty big believer that life is best lived when you don't know the outcome. Knowing the future can lead to some seriously scummy behavior. It's clear that The Ancient One knows exactly how and when Strange will show up in Kamar-Taj. This means she's aware of the car accident that will destroy his hands and does nothing to stop it. Maybe something mundane like that is out of her scope, but is Michelle supposed to believe that it's just a coincidence that The Ancient One benefits so much from allowing it to happen?

She answers regardless, "There is a reason you told me about your work with the Avengers. Collaboration with the outside world has always seemed like a distant impossibility for us. The people would not understand. You, however, have begun to bridge that gap. You have opened doors that make it plausible. A new future for Kamar-Taj will be single-handedly carved by you and you don't even realize that you've started it."

"I'm pretty sure I just told you I didn't want to know," Michelle deadpans.

She continues as if Michelle hadn't said anything at all, "I wish that this could have played out differently. If I had lived a little longer, I could have helped teach you. You have come so far from the vision of you first starting out that I showed earlier. You should be proud. You are going to do great things."

Unsure if her "prisoner" is trying to suck up to her or not, Michelle looks at her for a long time. The things she's telling her are.. she doesn't know what to believe. It's something that she's thought about before, but never too in depth. Honestly, she thinks there's a chance The Ancient One might be lying about not seeing the future very clearly beyond her death. If this time travel thing was the one path Strange saw, that means he was looking clearly well past his own demise.

"Times up, bye bye now," she decides instead and opens a portal below The Ancient One, ungracefully dumping her into Kamar-Taj. "Oh, Wong says hi from the future,"

Michelle taps onto the communicator in her ear, "This is Michelle. I have the Time Stone and am heading back home."

There's some excited chatter back in confirmation that they heard so she taps on the special nanotech watch, allows the white, black, and red suit to form over her, and goes back to her own time.

_Now I just need to hope everyone else gets theirs or this was all pointless._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot of fun to write! 
> 
> I had to do a lot of research for this one. I've never read any Doctor Strange comics before so I had to pour over various wikis to get spell names and such.
> 
> Interestingly, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak is the name of a binding spell (likely the one Strange used on Titan to bind Thanos' hand), but it's also designated as the name of the relic used to imprison Kaecilius in an official art book for the movie. I'll just have to sort that out when the time comes.


	6. Chapter 6

Michelle thinks she wants to fall over. No wonder Barton had problems standing after his test run.

_Okay, so time travel is a real thing, but it's disorienting as hell._

Her vision slowly returns and the helmet from the suit retracts so she can rub her eyes. From down below the staging platform, Michelle hears the loud voice of Bruce shouting, "And we're back! Okay headcount. 1, 2, 3..."

She looks around. The platform is full of people all returning, hopefully successful. Right behind her is Peter which is a relief and a half. He seems to look panicked until he sees Stark and Rogers. Did something happen?

"4, 5, 6..."

Thor is to her left. He looks better now, somehow. A little more sure of himself perhaps. Also, is that _Mjölnir_? She's pretty certain he did not have that going in. He didn't bring any weapon at all to her recollection. Oh god, did he steal his past self's weapon? Why? There's no fighting left to do.

"7, 8, 9..."

Nebula and Rhodey are to her right. Rhodey is holding the containment orb seen in the debriefing so they must have been successful with getting the Power Stone. Good. Nebula is... she's always creeped Michelle out a little. To her understanding, Nebula has had trouble just being a person due to Thanos screwing her over which is pretty damn sad.

"10," Bruce pauses. "Where's 11? Who's missing?"

Instinctively, everyone starts drifting subtly towards their teams to confirm if everyone is still there. Lang, Roger, Stark, and Peter are here. Everyone who went to 2012 is fine.

His voice cuts in again, "Where's Nat?"

All eyes snap to Clint. He's alone and facing straight ahead, apparently already knowing she's not there.

"Clint, where's Nat?"

 

 

 

All six Infinity Stones were retrieved successfully, but that almost seems like an afterthought now.

It takes a while to get the full story. After everyone realized that Natasha was missing, Clint walked over to Bruce, gave him the Soul Stone, and stormed out of the building. From what Michelle understands, there were no defenses on the stone. It didn't need to be stolen. It was simply right there on a mountain top, but it required a simple trial.

A soul for a soul.

Clint gets more vague after that. There's some bits about the sacrifice needing to be someone you loved or something and that they fought over who was going to die. She won.

Fighting over who gets to kill themselves. Saying that's depressing might be the understatement of the century.

Most of the others go outside down by the water to talk. Michelle doesn't go. It seemed to be something more private for the people who knew her better. Instead, she finds a place in the hangar to sit down on and lean back against the wall to think while Nebula fiddles around with something on the quantum tunnel.

She was never initially very nervous about this whole mission because the actual risk didn't seem all that crazy. Sneaking into the 2012 Stark Tower and stealing the Space and Mind Stone? Not exactly a big chance of death. The risk came from only having one chance to pull it off and what you were willing to put on the line. Originally, Michelle thought she'd be able to simply talk The Ancient One into giving it to her. That's why it never seemed too daunting. After accidentally screwing it up and nearly dying against her, she's no longer surprised that someone didn't come home. Michelle almost didn't as well. She probably shouldn't tell anyone about that.

She was never very close with Natasha. Well, that's not entirely true. It's hard to explain. Perhaps you could call them friends. That might be why Michelle feels so terrible about all this, because the first thing that came to her mind was how thankful she was that Natasha had talked Peter out of going to Vormir and went instead of him. Thinking "at least it was her" is a horrific way to approach someone's death.

Conversations between the two of them never revealed too many personal details about Natasha's life. As far as Michelle could tell, the woman was throwing herself into literally any kind of problem that she might be able to help fix after the snap as a form of penance. The Avengers had effectively fallen apart with only her and Rogers holding it together in a regular basis with additional assistance from Rhodey and the pair of Rocket and Nebula occasionally. While Michelle's story is fairly similar in a sense with Kamar-Taj, the kind of work the sorcerers deal with isn't quite the same. Natasha was directly dealing with the fallout around the world. That can take a toll on a person and it showed. She frequently looked tired and almost lonely at times.

Distantly, Michelle wonders if Natasha would be happy that such a varied group of people mourn her. A regular human with no superpowers, but can still kick ass with the best of them. To think she's even had an impact on aliens. That's not an accomplishment that many could claim.

How will Michelle be remembered when she dies? Hopefully in a positive way. If she's lucky, it'll be when she's old and lived a full life, surrounded by family and friends. She's not so vain as to need her name written in history books, but that'd be pretty cool. The path she's taken is not one of public notability. Michelle came to terms with that after her fight with Mordo when she saw her parents being peacefully unaware of the danger they could have been in.

But is it still the case that she's destined to a life of secrecy and seclusion? Being restricted to focusing on mystical issues is a tradition she threw aside long ago when she needed to make sure that Peter would come back home alive. Her appearances in public aren't very common, but there have been a couple photos and newspaper articles about her. They're awful. Peter thinks it's hilarious.

_Maybe The Ancient One was right. I have opened the door._

Michelle shakes her head. She can sort it out later.

The others return from outside, faces etched in grim determination. Tony and Bruce head off to get to work. There's not a lot left to do. Just make a device to hold the stones and have someone make the wish.

 

 

 

They whip up something faster than expected. In fact, it took less than a day. Tony Stark brings up a new nanotech-based gauntlet and prepares it to have the Infinity Stones inserted. "Now, this thing is a pretty barebones model. No premium features. It can't use the stones normally outside of all of them together and it's made of worse materials than the original, but we've jammed it full of enough nanites to hold it together long enough for the snap to go off."

"So you're telling me that these rocks have the power to undo the past five years of history?," Scott Lang asks as he circles around to get a better look.

Michelle can answer that one, "Theoretically, yes. The stones are the manifested power of the universe. They can do anything. They can destroy the universe if you want. It's not a question of what the stones can do, but if you survive the backlash of using them."

"Which is where I come in," Bruce steps in.

“No, I’ll do it.”

Heads turn to see Thor was the one who spoke. “Excuse me?” Tony asks.

Thor steps into the middle of the group in front of the gauntlet where the stones are still being prepped for insertion, “I’m sorry. What, were you just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity? Look, us sitting here staring at that thing is not going to bring everybody back. I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It’s my duty.”

Tony doesn't like the idea, “Normally, yes. It’s not about that.”

“It’s not that, it’s, stop it! Just let me. Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right.”

Listening to Thor talk himself down like this is sad. Michelle figures he must have been beating himself up harder than she thought over the past few years.

“No, it’s not just the fact that that glove will be channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I’m telling you, you’re in no condition.”

“What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?”

“Cheez Whiz?” Rhodey chimes in.

“Lightning.”

Bruce tries to gently nudge Thor back, “Lightning won’t help you, pal. It’s got to be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive.”

“How do we know you will?”

“I don’t. But the radiation’s mostly gamma. It’s like I was meant for this.” Banner moves in front of the gauntlet.

Stark activates a lockdown mode on the Avengers compound. All windows and doors are barred completely shut. Not even air can escape. Everyone suits up and turns on any kind of defenses they have just in case something goes wrong. The Iron Man armor puts up some kind of holographic shield (which Michelle still doesn't understand) while she puts up her own barrier. Peter and a few others shift behind her just in case.

She take a look around the room. Stark and Rhodey are in suits. They'll probably be fine. Thor and Banner are durable. Lang has his suit, though she isn't sure how much protection it really gives. Peter has his newest version of the Iron Spider suit on along with his natural superpowers. Rocket and Barton are behind Stark. Rogers has his shield out which looks comical considering it's not going to cover his whole body, but he's still a super solider. Is someone missing?

Small robotic arms start to grab the Infinity Stones and put them into place. The Power Stone is first. There's a small clink when it's in.

From her side, Peter's head shoots up and starts looking around. Michelle tenses.

_Something's wrong. His danger sense._

He doesn't get a chance to say anything though before her vision goes white and the world explodes.

 

 

 

It's hard to breathe. There's something jabbing into her chest. Michelle can't even see. There's too much dust in the air.

“Ah, god this hurts,” she mumbles to herself between coughs. “Where am I?”

“Oh, you're alive. That's good. Was worried for a second there.”

What. The pressure on her chest isn't a thing. It's Rocket. “Get. Off. Of. Me. Hard to breathe,” she demands.

Rocket takes her anger in stride, “I don't know how much room you think there is, but we're kind of stuck in here. Trust me, I get no pleasure from being jammed into your breasts. You're not that cute.”

Indignant fury rages through her for a moment, “I am going. To kill you.”

“Do it after we get out. Just do your thing and move us out of here.”

Her left arm is stuck. Michelle taps her left hand on the debris they're trapped in. The sling ring isn't on. “I can't. I need you to get the ring from my sash. I can't reach it. Put it on my left hand.”

There's a shuffling noise and the feeling of Rocket crawling along her body. It's bizarre and mortifying. This is a situation she's taking to her grave. A minute later of dealing with a raccoon digging through her clothes, she feels the familiar ring on her hands.

“Done. Now get us out of here.”

This is going to hurt. There's no room to actually move around so Michelle awkwardly tries to do the motions required to make a portal underneath of them. It works and they fall through. Gravity wrenches her stuck arm from its spot and it makes Michelle scream in pain as they fall and land on flat ground. Additionally, falling through the portal and landing in her lap is the same gauntlet they were about to use. The Power Stone is still in it. She snatches it and shoves it into her pouch that she previous carried the relic she used to imprison The Ancient One.

Badly scraped and bleeding in a few places, Michelle stands to see where they are now. They're in the hangar of the Avengers compound. Or well, it used to be. The entire compound is now effectively a massive hole in the ground. But that's not even the most alarming part.

There is a gigantic alien mothership in the sky above her. Its presence completely blocks out the sun. The blue skies that were there just minutes ago are nowhere to be seen.

"Oh my god," Michelle whispers to herself.

A feeling of deep terror strikes her. She's tried to move past her fear for years because she had promised herself that she wasn't going to run away anymore, but this is a lot. She's brought back to the memory of being a teenager again, walking towards the spaceship with Stark, Strange, Wong, and Bruce. So out of her depth and unprepared.

"That's Thanos' ship," Rocket says from beside her, clearly just as bewildered as she is.

What? How? What in the hell is going on?

The ruins of the hangar is mostly clear, but the loud roar of thunder comes from nearby. Both Rocket and Michelle know there's only one likely explanation for who caused it. Stepping around more debris, they find Thor, Stark, and Rogers together, staring down into the center of the crater. They're geared up and ready to go. Even Thor is in some armor and is carrying both Stormbreaker and Mjölnir.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Michelle asks as she jogs up.

Thor points his large axe off into the distance, "Thanos has returned. He has sent his children in search of the stones."

If she squints, she can see someone large with gold armor and purple skin down there. Michelle has never seen Thanos in person before. Only descriptions from Peter and Tony.

Rocket doesn't get it, "How? I saw you chop his head off."

"You mess with time, time messes back," Stark explains simply.

So he thinks it's a different Thanos from the past? How in the hell did he get here? What the fuck is going on? They were literally about to do the snap that would fix everything. Wait. Michelle pulls the gauntlet out of her pouch. It still has the Power Stone in it. This draws everyone's attention.

A plan starts to form in Michelle's head, "We can still fix this with the stones right? We find the stones, get this to Banner, and do the snap. Everything will be undone and Thanos will be gone."

Rogers nods, "That'll work.  They'll be inside somewhere buried under all this. The rest of the team is in there too. Find them and they can help."

"You may be able to defeat his children, but Thanos will send his armies in eventually," Thor warns. He's right. She can't even begin to imagine how many Thanos brought with him in a spaceship that practically looks like it's the size of New York City.

"So you're going to have to hurry. We'll hold him off," Tony says. He pats Thor and Rogers on the shoulder, "Come on guys. Let's go greet our new guest." The three of them begin walking down towards the center of the crater.

"Remind me again why we never called Danvers?" Rocket shouts after them as they go.

"There's a non-zero chance she could punch a moon in half. We wanted to steal the stones, not blow up everything in sight."

"Great," he grumbles.

The sound of rubble being shifted around gets Michelle's attention. Assuming that it's someone else trapped and needing help, she runs around a few piles of collapsed rooftops to get a better look and Rocket follows. The source of the noise is not what she expects. It's not a person. It's the same large alien creature with the hammer claw multitool that she ran away from 5 years ago.

The same one that effectively ruined her life.

And it sees her.

_Don't run away._

But she's stronger now. They have a plan. She can't give up. Michelle takes a step forward. "Hold on. I can handle this," she tells Rocket.

The raccoon is in a relaxed state despite the situation, but remarks, "No offense lady, but I don't see what you're going to do. Do you even know who that guy is? That's Cull Obsidian."

The creature is roughly 40 meters away and begins to charge at her.

Taking a wider stance to brace herself, Michelle forms a large shield on her left hand despite the pain in that arm.

30 meters.

She shifts sideways a little and stretches her right arm behind her.

20 meters.

"You sure about this? I think I should shoot him." Rocket asks, waving up his blaster that looks suspiciously like something she would have seen in one of Peter's Star Wars movies.

10 meters.

"Yeah." This is personal.

Zero.

With force capable of powering through a wall, the thing she now knows as Cull Obsidian swings his hammer.

She blocks.

And punches him as hard she can with an open palm.

The thing about forcibly ejecting someone's spirit from their body is that it's not a battle of strength. Even if they don't know anything about it, someone very intelligent and determined or willful might be able to resist it or otherwise "find their way back" so to speak. Steve Rogers would probably be a good example. Michelle is pretty sure she could never do it to him in any serious situation. But the thing she's fighting now? It never struck her that way.

Cull Obsidian falls over unconscious as its astral form floats helplessly behind it.

Rocket takes an appraising look, "Okay, maybe I was wrong." He walks over and blasts it in the face with his gun several times for good measure.

“We probably should split up. Don't have much time. You take the larger tunnel,” he says before running off.

Michelle peeks over to take a look. Her now defeated foe was apparently pulling large rocks off of some kind of underground maintenance passage. It's a good place to start.

The tunnel is partially flooded with ankle deep water or so and kept lit with red emergency lights. She had no idea the compound was so elaborate. Wishing she had kept her earpiece, Michelle runs down the tunnel while occasionally shouting, “Anyone there?” Tracking spells work, but only enough to tell her that people are down here. She can't afford to try and make portals to their location because one in the wrong place might cause a collapse of debris on them. The old fashioned way is the only way to go here.

Periodically, the crash of thunder or missile explosions can be heard shaking the ground and it spurs her on. At an intersection, Michelle vaguely hears a commotion down one path and turns that way. It turns out to be correct when she comes across another one of what she assumes to be Thanos' children. There's a dropped spear in the water, but the alien is completely encased on Peter's webs. It practically looks like a mummy. The only reason she knows it's alive is because it's eyes still move. She carefully navigates through the mess of webs and ignores it to keep going.

Soon, she comes across Peter himself trying to lift what must be several tons of concrete off of Clint Barton. “MJ! Oh god, good. You're okay. Hold on, let me get him out,” he says after seeing her.

With a loud grunt and final push, he lifts it high enough for Clint to crawl out. “Thanks kid,” he says as he gets up and pats Peter on the back.

“Not you too,” he whines. “I'm not a teenager anymore.”

Clint lets out a small laugh despite their dire situation, “You should see Steve. That guy still calls Wanda a kid.”

That's not the news he wanted to hear and groans in dismay. Michelle hates to interrupt, but they don't have time. She pulls out the gauntlet and passes it to Peter to show him, “We need to go. Thanos is attacking us from the past. They're holding him off outside so that we can find the stones. Do you have any?”

Barton pulls out a yellow one, “The Mind Stone was with me.” He gives it to Peter who drops it in the gauntlet.

The three of them continue running down the tunnels as they hear the fight raging on. “We get to go on all the best dates, MJ. This is probably the greatest one yet,” Peter says.

_Good idea. Try and keep things lighthearted so I'm not thinking about imminent death._

“I was a big fan of the dimension we went to that took the form of our worst fears.”

“I thought we weren't going to speak about that one again.”

“No. That was the demon who made us share dreams for a week, Parker.”

He taps his finger on his chin as if he's seriously contemplating it, “You're right.”

“Of course I am.”

The tunnels lighten up soon and there's an exit where collapse has opened a path to the world above. In front of it stands Nebula with a rifle. In her left hand are the Reality and Space stones.

“Nebula,” Barton calls out to her. “We've got the glove. Give us the stones so we can put them in.”

Peter runs ahead to her, but instead Nebula turns around and shoots him in the shoulder causing Peter to fall to the ground with a shout.

“Don't. Move,” she demands to all three of them as she waves the gun around.

What in the hell? “Did you do this?” Michelle presses. “You're the one who brought him here?” She even saw Nebula fiddling with the time machine before. Why wasn't she suspicious about it?

“My father needs the stones,” Nebula says as she approaches the gauntlet on the ground. Before she can pick it up, a shot rings out and cuts right through her chest. After feeling the hole in her body with her hand, she falls over. Dead.

A second Nebula appears from the exit they found. Michelle runs over to check on Peter, but he waves her off. He's fine and the suit has already repaired itself.

Barton isn't so sure about this, “Okay. Are you the good Nebula or the bad Nebula?”

In response, the living one points to the dead and says, “She took my place. I'm... sorry.”

“Good enough for me.”

Michelle grabs the two stones and throws them over to Peter who puts in them the gauntlet. Two to go.

Climbing outside is nearly a war zone now. The fight with Thanos is still far away, but it doesn't look like it's going good. In the distance, Michelle can hear the roar of the Hulk and she immediately heads over there. Climbing over a literal mountain of concrete, she sees all of the other missing teammates encased in a prison of stone and rock. The smaller alien with telekinetic powers that had attacked New York is fleeing the scene on the same whirlwind of rocks and debris he used once before in Washington Square Park five years ago.

He also has the last two Infinity Stones in hand. Soul and Time.

“Maw,” Nebula grinds out. That must be his name.

Banner's strength allows him to force apart the debris holding him and the others, but Maw is too far. He's already near the bottom of the crater where Thanos is. Nebula and Rocket begin shooting at him with their weapons, but Maw effortlessly rips a large chunk of rock out of the ground with his telekinesis and holds it behind him to absorb fire.

Now closer to the fighting, Michelle can see Thanos wielding some kind of massive two sided sword that kind of looks like a pair of helicopter blades. Captain America is currently recovering to the side. The famous vibranium shield is missing entire chunks and is that Mjölnir he's holding? How? What? Now's not the time.

On the opposite ledge of the crater, the armies of Thanos appear. Washing over the far edge must be thousands of creatures. Ten thousand. Maybe more.

_We're out of time. If Thanos gets any stones, it's over._

Despite the potential danger, Michelle begins to open a portal near the fighting with Thanos to try and intercept Maw when Barton steps beside her, draws back an arrow on his bow, and fires a high arcing shot. Despite the vast distance, the shot rings true and goes clear over the debris that was acting as a shield.

And pierces right into Maw's head.

Michelle finishes the portal and Peter dives through, snatching the Time and Soul stones out of the air with webs as they falls from Maw's hands.

"Got them!" he calls out and immediately slams the stones into the gauntlet. That's all six. Following him through the portal, she allows herself to think for a brief moment that maybe they can pull this off. It's almost over. They just need to get it to-

In his excitement of being so close to the end, Peter had let down his guard. Thanos' massive sword bursts through his chest from behind. He then reaches over and takes the completed gauntlet from Peter's hands as if it was offered freely.

_No._

That might be the only word in Michelle's mind. Over and over, endlessly. Before she even realizes what she's doing, she's already at Peter's side, trying to drag him away to safety.

"MJ," he chokes out.

_There's blood. There's so much blood. How is there so much? He's wearing a suit made of metal! How is there so much blood?_

Peter tries again, but can't finish, "MJ-"

_There is a hole in my_ _fiancé's_ _chest._

Michelle feels the world fall apart.

_What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?_

Faintly, she registers Stark shouting something at her. She can't make out the words. Not because they're too far away or too quiet, but because they're so unimportant to her now.

She turns to look. The armies of Thanos are getting closer. It won't be long before they're overrun. All of the remaining Avengers and teammates are piled onto Thanos. He's wearing the gauntlet and they're trying to keep him from snapping.

The green light of the Time Stone catches her eye.

_I need it. I need the Time Stone. I can fix this._

Shakily, Michelle gets up and walks over to Thanos. Casting a binding spell, red strands of molten steel stretch from her hand and wrap themselves around the gauntlet to keep him from closing his fingers together. Banner and Rhodey help as well.

_Give me the Time Stone. Give it to me. Give it to me._

Banner spares her a worried look. Is she talking out loud?

Thanos tries to use his other arm to break off the bindings, but it's held back by Thor and Rogers. Stark fires some kind of device that attaches itself to the ground and Thanos' arm. It forms a powerful electromagnet that ties his hand down. Stark then shifts around to help pull off the gauntlet.

_Give it to me._

There's some kind of flash of recognition in Nebula's eyes as if she's seen this before. Kicking out and slicing at the back Thanos' knees, he falls to the ground. She then joins the effort to hold him down. Even Barton and Rocket help despite their meager physical strength in comparison.

_Give it to me._

Lang begins to grow in size. And grow. And grow. In moments, he's possibly ten stories tall.

"Fire!" comes the voice of Thanos as he struggles against everyone.

The spaceship above rains down artillery on them all. No one has protection against it, but they also can't afford to move for fear of letting Thanos break free. Lang physically throws his body over everyone to shield them as long as he can.

_Give it to me._

Thor releases his place from Thanos' left arm and moves in front of him. With the right arm exposed and nothing stopping him, He swings Stormbreaker and cleaves the arm off.

The gauntlet comes loose.

Badly hurt, Lang shrinks himself, unable to withstand the artillery anymore. The crater becomes a cacophony of explosions as everyone dives for the stones.

Off to the side, Peter Parker draws his last breath.

Someone snaps their fingers.

 

 

 

"I know you've been talking about this for forever. Where are you going?"

"Nope. Not telling. If I tell you, you're going to try and give me advice. You two sucked to be with for a week when you went out. I don't even want to hear you trying to tell me anything."

"Hey, I'll have you know- Hey MJ, are you alright?"

_What's going on? Where am I?_

Michelle opens her eyes to see that she's no longer in the ruins of the Avengers compound. The first thing she notices is how loud it is. So much chatter. So many voices. So many _people_. It's a veritable sea of human beings compared to what she has been used to.

It's lunchtime in Midtown School of Science and Technology. Next to her is a very alive Ned Leeds. He's so _alive_. Across the table is Peter Parker.

Still jacked up on adrenaline and feeling hysteria at the edges of her mind, she leaps into action immediately, grabs Peter and starts physically dragging him out of the cafeteria. Some people begin to point and stare, but she's got other priorities.

"MJ, wait, what's going on?" Peter continually protests the whole way.

Looking both ways down the hall to avoid anyone, Michelle starts searching for an empty classroom. The first two are locked, but the third one has the lights off and is unlocked.

"Get in," she demands as she practically throws him inside.

"MJ, please. What's going on?"

There's a nagging thought that something is wrong. She'll figure it out later. First, Michelle needs to make sure he's alright. Once they're inside the room alone, she starts tugging at his shirt to pull it off. He fights against her the whole way and is seemingly embarrassed. No idea why.

"Okay, while having you drag me off and start stripping me is kind of hot, you're being really weird right now," he says.

More alarm bells. The shirt comes off and she breathes a sigh in relief. No stab wound through his chest. No scar. He's alive.

_Right, right. We reverted time. No stab wound because it never happened._

"Seriously, MJ. What's wrong? Are you okay?" Peter asks.

Michelle looks up. There's deep concern in his eyes. Why? "Um, you're the one I need to be worried about right now. You almost died."

"Uh, from who? Last time anything bad happened to me was 6 months ago or something. Remember-"

"Peter," Michelle sternly cuts off. "This is no time for jokes. You just had a sword through your heart from Thanos."

"Who?"

The past couple minutes play back in her mind and fill in all the clues she ignored. Immediately after, her mind goes blank in speechlessness.

_Oh._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! That FFH stuff, huh? Fury citing the fact that Stark made him an Avenger is something I'm not sure how I feel about. It sounds like he's pushing Peter to become something very different than doing the local beat and that has interesting implications on his future.
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, since we're nearing the end, some random thoughts.
> 
> 1\. A big problem I faced in this chapter is that with the "turn back time to before" plan, everything effectively ends the second the snap happens meaning I have to interrupt Bruce's snap. I also had to break up the stones because the plan is to snap and not just hide the stones away like in the movie. This was my solution.
> 
> 2\. This was never a "fix-it" story. Just a "what if?". Some things are better, some are worse. For example, Loki will be alive again, but Gamora will be gone (no 2014 version). I still imagine that Gamora freed Nebula like in the movie, but there was little reason for me to write her in for barely half a scene since she would effectively vanish anyway.
> 
> 3\. The final Thanos conflict originally was going to end up even further different from canon than this. My original outline involved Nebula snatching the completed gauntlet right as the "barn doors" close and taking it back through time to 2014. Everyone would chase, but the machine would blow up due to a bomb or something. MJ would then use the Time Stone to restore it (never figured out how she would get it) and also "duplicate" the Pym Particles by reverting them to before they were used (I'd throw in some concerns about doing so ripping the universe apart or something). I ended up not doing this because she already had her moment of glory with the stone and allowing her to keep it gets weird fast. It's too powerful and I wasn't sure how to write my way out of that.
> 
> 4\. There's a pretty dumb plot hole. The main reason I kept Bruce from helping was because I said that they needed to reserve some Pym Particles to return the stones. Well, I kinda forgot that the Pym Particles will effectively be "restored" when things are reverted. Oops. Granted, they'll be in Lang's van, but whatever. Let's just pretend they didn't have enough for everyone (why did they recruit more people than could go? Who knows).


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She may have saved the universe, but in an unfamiliar home, in an unfamiliar bed, and wrapped in unfamiliar covers, Michelle Jones weeps for what she's lost along the way.

She probably should be celebrating. Everyone who died is back to life. All the horrific damage has been undone. That's good news, right? Except Michelle can't seem to find it within herself to be happy.

After babbling something incoherent to Peter, Michelle had stumbled out and practically fled the school. It's not like she could remember what her class schedule was, so trying to fake it for the day was out of the question.

According to her phone, it's the day before Thanos attacked. A Friday. The loose bits of conversation she was hearing between Ned and Peter as she "came back" must have been Ned telling them about his upcoming date with Betty tonight. If she remembers the events correctly, Michelle goes off to have another one of her training sessions in the Mystic Arts tomorrow morning and on her way out is when Banner had crash landed next to her, screaming warnings about Thanos.

She won't go.

The Sanctum no longer belongs to her. Strange would be there and that's a gigantic can of worms that Michelle doesn't want to go remotely near right now. Because of that, she winds up heading back to her old apartment. It's odd. She has the keys, but they feel different. The layout, the furniture, and even her old bed don't seem like hers anymore. Like they belong to a stranger. What should feel nostalgic now looks out of place.

She may have saved the universe, but in an unfamiliar home, in an unfamiliar bed, and wrapped in unfamiliar covers, Michelle Jones weeps for what she's lost along the way.

 

 

 

There were some attempts from Peter to call her, but they stopped after he likely had to return to class. He didn't try again. Michelle's not sure how to feel about that. Technically, he's still her boyfriend in this time. It's March and they started going out at the tail end of August of last year so they would have been together about 6-7 months. Blowing him off like this and leaving him confused will cause her problems if she wants to salvage things.

Spinning her phone around in her hands, Michelle tries to start thinking about what to do. Should she just play it all off and pretend nothing happened? Should she try and act like she's 17? Should she tell him everything? She never gets the chance to make up her mind before someone different calls her.

It's Tony Stark.

Seeing the name reminds her suddenly that there are so many other things going on that she has forgotten or been ignoring. Who else remembers? Where are the stones? Is Thanos still alive?

"Hey Glinda," he greets.

How does she broach this? "Do you..." she trails off, hoping he gets the hint.

There's a long pause. Is she the only one that knows what happened? Was it even real? "I think we have a lot to talk about," Tony eventually says.

"He doesn't remember." It's all she says. It's all she needs to say, but it's probably pointless. Surely he knows. He must know. And he must be hurt too. She's not the only one who was close to Peter after all.

Again, silence for a time, "I know."

They don't really talk. Not like the way they probably should, but maybe this is enough for now. "I'm heading out to his place to talk with him and his aunt. Try and explain what's going on. He knows something's up and that you're involved somehow, but not what. I convinced him to stop calling you in the meantime," Tony tells her.

"Should he be told?" Michelle practically chokes it out.

“It's too late for that. I, ah, may have said too much when I was checking on him.”

Michelle probably said too much herself with her spouting off Thanos' name. The metaphorical rain cloud over her head is practically storming, "I don't know what to tell him."

"I know."

"He asked me to marry him. It was dumb and it was awkward, but he did it and I said yes. And now he doesn't even remember it." She checks her hand. Yep, the ring he gave her is gone. There's no evidence it ever happened.

"I know."

More silence.

"Do you want me to tell him anything about you?" he asks.

God, and isn't that the root of it all. Michelle waves him off despite the fact he can't see her, "No. No, I'll figure something out."

"Got it. Listen, I'm at his place now so I've got to go. Don't come to the compound. Rogers is on his way in and things are about to get a little chaotic since he's technically on the run. I'd rather not see you and Peter get dragged into my media circus that's about to happen."

“Wait,” she calls before he hangs up.

He doesn't respond, but she can tell he's listening, “Promise me that you'll remove any trace of that quantum time travel tech after this is all over.”

Stark scoffs, “Who do you take me for? I already made plans to burn it all down.”

She lets him go.

Peter doesn't try calling again that night.

Or Saturday.

Or Sunday.

 

 

 

Much of what happens next is highly televised to the mass confusion of the world.

Nearly all parties involved in the events of the future begin finding their way back. As Stark had claimed, the fugitive Avengers are the first to arrive. All of them appear except for Natasha. From what Michelle hears, she simply vanished into thin air mid conversation with Sam Wilson. A devastated Wanda Maximoff is there and brings the body of Vision with her, the Mind Stone seemingly having disappeared as well.

Rocket's ship arrives from space and he brings along Nebula and his entire confused crew, sans Gamora. Michelle's never met her before, but heard some. Since both Gamora and Natasha apparently died as sacrifices to the Soul Stone, it's likely that the stones just refused to return them.

Thor arrives via the Bifrost in better spirits (and in better shape) than anyone has seen him in years and brings word that Banner was the one who ended up doing the snap, but is left in critical condition and is being tended to on the Asgardian refugee ship. His right arm was nearly blown off and didn't handle the transition back to 2018 well which makes some form of sense. The Hulk of 2023 and 2018 were very different. Apparently when time was reversed, Banner was found wearing the gauntlet with all the stones from the past still on it.

Thor's positive mood kept him oblivious to the fact that maybe bringing his now alive brother, Loki, to Earth wasn't a good idea at the moment.

With the six Infinity Stones in the compound and the media outside going nuts over outlaws and aliens in the building, the compound goes into full lockdown mode. No one in or out until they can send the stones back to where they came from. Only one exception was made. Scott Lang arrives in the same van that contained a quantum tunnel after an extended road trip across the country. With him are the Pym Particles required to make the trip.

The UN gets involved and it turns into a massive mess as everyone stalls until they can get rid of the stones. Threats and closed door deals were made, but everything holds together long enough for new quantum suits to be built in record time. Steve Rogers goes alone to return things to where they belong.

And doesn't come back.

Or maybe he does. It's hard to tell. Michelle gets some conflicting info there. Something about a girl. She figures it's none of her business. You do you, Captain America.

As for Thanos? According to Rocket, he and his army just disappeared. When the time came on Saturday for the initial attack that kidnapped Strange, nothing happened. No spaceship. No attack. No end of the world.

While no one is able to actually ask him yet until he recovers, it seems that the only people who remember are ones that Banner wanted to, but it only worked if they were alive at the time. The Avengers and other allies who died in the first snap had no idea what was going on. Apparently there are a few others who remember who weren't directly involved in the fighting, but they are largely family or friends of the group such as Pepper. Thor mentioned a valkyrie being one of them?

The downside is that this implies the reason Peter doesn't remember is because he died.

 

 

 

The problem is, Michelle doesn't really want to go back to school. Not so much because she'd be repeating classes she had sort of already taken, but because she's not ready to face anyone.

Or a specific someone.

That's why she's up at 4:00 AM on Monday morning, flipping coins to try and make up her mind as to if she wants to go. The universe conspires against her because the outcome ends up being “Go to School” 15 times in a row despite her attempts to keep claiming to herself it didn't count.

After dragging it out for much longer than is reasonable, Michelle manages to force herself to get cleaned up and leaves for class. The first thing on her To Do list is to show up early to go to the office and get a copy of her schedule. After that, she waits.

Ned Leeds enters the doors of Midtown a little while later, chatting happily with Betty. That's good. Their date must have gone well. Hoping that Betty doesn't take this the wrong way, Michelle walks up to him and pulls him into the biggest hug she can possibly give. Without letting go, she turns to Betty and says, "I'm stealing your boyfriend for a minute. I'll give him back."

Betty just raises an interested eyebrow, but says nothing.

_No denial. Not even a hint of embarrassment. Their date must have gone extremely well. Way to go, Leeds._

"It's nice to see you too, MJ?" Ned hesitantly asks, unsure what in the world is going on.

_Don't cry. Don't cry._

"Shut up and let me have this moment. I missed you."

_Shit, I'm crying._

Ned seems to see this and quickly pulls Michelle out of the middle of the school hall where she won't make a scene. It's a nice gesture, but she doesn't really care about what others think of her.

"Seriously, are you okay MJ? You practically bolted out of school on Friday, I've been getting weird texts from Peter, and now this? Is this related to all the crazy stuff in the news?"

It says a lot about how used to crazy Spider-Man and mystical stuff Ned is that he can make that logical leap. Not trusting her voice at the moment, Michelle nods her head.

"Okay, wow. That was a total guess. And really awesome, but you're also crying into my shoulder so it's not cool."

After a couple minutes, she recomposes herself and lets go. "Some really bad stuff happened. I'll probably tell you about it at some point. Just... not now. I'm really happy you're my friend. Don't ever change, okay?"

Ned doesn't understand, but still pretends that he does and nods his head and gives a thumbs up, "You got it, MJ. I think."

Before she turns to leave, there's one more thing she wants to say. He won't understand, but it's for her own benefit. “And Ned? I'm sorry. About everything.”

As expected, his only response is a dumb, confused look on his face and he keeps holding out his thumbs up. She'll take it.

For a second, Michelle allows herself to think that maybe she could get through the day without seeing Peter, but instead she sees him waiting for her at her locker. She's not ready.

_Act normal. This Peter isn't your fiancé. He's been your boyfriend for about 6-7 months. How did 17 year old me act here? Dial back the soft, seem a little distant and uninterested._

“Parker,” she emotionlessly greets with a stiff nod.

_Too distant._

Her mistake is immediately apparent from the hurt look on Peter's face, but he manages to brush it off and take on a more nervous appearance It's obvious that Stark told Peter a least a little about her. Probably that she was one of the ones that remember. His face constantly twitches as if he wants to start asking something, but can't bring himself to do it. Conversely, Michelle still isn't sure how to answer any of the questions he would want to ask.

About a minute in, he manages to put forth a question, “Mr. Stark told me not to bother you and that you were working through some stuff, but you're here now. Does that mean...?”

Tony must have hated being called that again. It took nearly two years after half the universe died before he finally convinced Peter to call him Tony instead. Still, it's not within her power to deny him. Michelle doesn't say anything, but nods. That's apparently good enough for Peter who breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, good. Good. Can we talk after school? Like, really talk?”

_I'm not ready. I'm not ready._

“Okay.”

_What am I doing!?_

 

 

 

School is a surreal experience for all kinds of reasons. Some good, some bad. Michelle has no idea what kind of homework she was supposed to do and doesn't even remember what she was in the middle of learning, so instead she zones out and just... looks around. It makes her look like an idiot a few times when she isn't able to answer any questions, but she makes it through the day without too many incidents.

There's no way she's going to pass her finals without completely redoing the entire semester's worth of studying. Just the thought of doing that for all of her classes makes her groan in dismay.

In her classes, she sees her friends that she once wondered if she would ever be able to beg forgiveness from. They're all completely unaware of the tragedies that took place. That's likely for the best. Even if they can't answer her, she hopes she's finally earned it.

According to the calendar on her phone, there is an Academic Decathlon practice scheduled for tomorrow. Michelle doesn't remember where any of her binders of questions are, but that's okay. She thinks she'll order pizza for everyone instead. Call it a day off. Maybe give Cindy a little extra to take home to her brother.

Still, that's tomorrow. She'll worry about it then.

On her way out of Midtown, Michelle spots Peter waiting for her by the entrance. As with before, he's nervous. She is too. They walk together in a mostly tense silence because they can't talk about the things they need to with so many people around. Once they get to a more isolated location, Michelle casts a subtle silencing spell which surprises Peter.

He gets the hint though and with a rub of his hands to psych himself up, he begins one of the scariest conversations of her life, “So, Mr. Stark told me a lot. About this really bad thing that happened and that we lived with it for 5 years. He also said that you remember this happening.”

“I do. You were there too,” she answers as evenly as possible to avoid saying too much.

Peter nods, “That's what Mr. Stark said. So, what, you're 22 now?”

“In my head, I suppose,” Michelle says with a shrug. “Obviously I look no older than you. I'm trying not to think about it or I'll drive myself crazy.”

Ever so carefully, he asks the one question he wants to know, “He didn't want to answer much about you. Do you know why?”

“I asked him not to.” She could have phrased that a lot better.

He nods regardless, “Did something happen between us?”

Oh. He's just going right for it.

Peter, however, interprets her hesitation as the worst possible case, “Because you almost acting like we're not even friends anymore. Mr. Stark is telling me not to call you. It feels like we're falling apart and I don't even know why. I must have screwed something up in the future for you to act like this. What did I do?  Can I fix it?  I promise I'll do better.”

It's just like him to assume it's always his fault. Michelle opens her mouth to try and refute him – to try and make him understand that it's not really his fault – but she isn't sure how to do it without saying what really happened.

“Do you not want to be with me anymore?” the vulnerability in his voice practically tears her apart.

"I do!" she accidentally says louder than she meant to in an attempt to reassure him. "I do. It's..." but Michelle has absolutely no idea what to say. Screw it. "You've got to understand. We were 22. Three days before we came back, you asked me to marry you. Now you don't even remember it."

Peter's voice practically squeaks, "I did!?"

Great. Did she just screw it up and scare him off? Michelle cringes, "Can we pretend I didn't say that?"

He snatches her hand before she can back away, "No! No, no. You can't take that back. I mean, yes, that's pretty far from what I expected and I don't know how to react yet, but I'm happy you told me."

Michelle nods rapidly, "Exactly. I don't know how to react. There's years of memories about us that only exist now in my head. We got older. We moved in together.”

“So I didn't mess up?”

“Not in the way you're thinking. We had arguments and fights, sure, but we got past that.”

The information seems to still be settling in Peter's head, so Michelle takes the opportunity to continue, “This thing where I'm being weird about you, that's my problem. I look at you and I see the other Peter that I've come to know for years. You're the same person, but you're also not. Does that make any sense? You're still my boyfriend, but I feel like I'm starting over. The fact that you're in front of me is something I'm still having trouble with. I watched you die. Then moments later, we come back in time only for me to see that you didn't come with us.”

He nods, apparently understanding. It seems like he's trying to work out the words of something he wants to say so she waits.

"Maybe," he trails off and looks away for a moment before gathering his resolve, "Maybe I'm not the exact same person you remember, but I hope I'm close enough that you're willing to try.”

He takes her silence as a cue to continue, "When I'm with you, I'm... happy. Really, really happy. It's the kind of happy that keeps me up at night because I'm wondering when the rug is going to get pulled out from under me since I'm not supposed to be this lucky. I'm not old enough to already be making plans to be marrying you. We haven't even been together long enough from my perspective for that. But when I think about my future, it's not some blank placeholder face there beside me. It's you. It's always you."

"Peter," Michelle tries to start, but doesn't know what to say.

“This stuff you're telling me - about us together in the future - I want that, but I'm not mature enough yet. I need to build my own life first. Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years.”

_(“Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years,” Peter asks lowly.)_

The memory from his proposal practically bowls her over and she loses her balance for a moment despite standing perfectly still.

_That's right. I can't believe I forgot my promise. Maybe the circumstances are different now, but it applies all the same._

“I can wait.”

Slowly, she meets his eyes and repeats herself with a small smile, “I can wait. You might have to wait a little for me too. I'm still having trouble coming to terms with this thing where I'm 17 again.”

For the first time in a while, she sees him start to smile a little as well, "I can do that. So, can I take you out somewhere tonight?"

“Where to?”

“Haven't made up my mind yet. How about we head out for some ice cream later and figure it out as we go?”

Ah, to be a teenager again. Michelle could get used to this. What would be an appropriate 17 year old answer for her here? “As long as we stop being so cheesy for a while. This is getting pretty gross.”

“Fair.”

“Also, Peter?” Michelle reaches over to grab his arm and taps the crappy bracelet she had given him for Christmas, “Hold on to this. It might just save your life some day.”

 

 

 

There's one more thing she must do and she's been putting this off for a while. Michelle opts to take the long way via public transportation out to the Sanctum. It gives her time to think about what she wants to say and how to say it. As much as she's annoyed by and upset with Strange, he has also simultaneously done a lot for her.

The train of thought starts with a simple question: What would have happened if Strange never pulled her in to learning the Mystic Arts? Well, Peter probably would have died after getting fried by Electro. Even if she pretends he survives there without her, he still would have died again after Thanos' snap since her shoddy bracelet wouldn't have saved him. With Peter dying in the snap, Michelle would have been left all alone in the world with nowhere to go. Where Wong welcomed her in to Kamar-Taj with open arms and helped give her a purpose, she would have drifted aimlessly in shelters. Maybe Ned's parents might have taken her in.

The reality is that the Mystic Arts saved her in more ways than one and for that she'll always be grateful, even if it may not have necessarily been the reason Strange did all this. So maybe she's not angry, just... conflicted. Does she even want to know his reasons? No, not particularly. She can already assume it's related either to what The Ancient One said or to her role in bringing everyone back. Any explanation he gives wouldn't be new information.

When she arrives, Michelle doesn't knock and heads right on in. It doesn't take long to spot Strange. He's in a chair, off to the side in the main room, deep into another spellbook. He looks exactly like she remembers. Blue robes, red Cloak of Levitation, even the same facial hair. The Eye of Agamotto is not around his neck however. It's resting on a nearby table. It's empty anyway, so there wouldn't be much point in wearing it.

He looks up at the noise of the door opening and notices her. “There you are,” Strange says as he begins to stand. “I believe congratulations are in order. Wong is currently making rounds with the other masters to convince them that you deserve to be named a Master of the Mystic Arts again. I hear his speech is quite nice.”

Of course, she expected him to somehow remember. Who knows how or why.

“Was it all worth it?” is her one and only question. Honestly, the big thing she's upset with Strange about is that the one future he saw things getting fixed was the one where Peter ended up dead along the way, and he was okay with that. In time, Michelle hopes that things will get back to normal with her boyfriend, but it still hurts.

Strange actually deflates ever so slightly, “I'm sorry that things had to be this way.”

He probably means it all things considered.

He holds up the book he was reading to show her, “I've been investigating options to try and restore his memory. It's the least I can do.”

A flash of hope rises in her chest, “And?”

“Nothing so far. This isn't a case of amnesia. The memories technically never existed to him so restoring what was never there is not so easy.”

Suddenly, Michelle feels foolish for ever having hoped.

“I've discovered a method of transplanting your own memories to him which would possibly help, but I fear that's not a safe approach. In those memories, he would be you. It could cause identity issues.”

That sounds like a bad idea. She shakes her head, “Yeah, let's not do that.”

“There is,” Strange hesitates for a moment, “one other option. Instead of trying to bring back Mr. Parker's memory, we could remove yours.”

“No.” The answer is almost immediate. Michelle didn't even think about it before refusing. It's not about Peter. It's about why she wanted to become a sorceress. She needs to remember.

“I'll keep looking then.”

“Thanks.”

The stress on Strange's face fades somewhat and he grins a little, “So, you met The Ancient One? How did that go?”

“You don't know?”

“It's a little difficult to pay attention to the details when you're trying to watch 14 million possible outcomes as quickly as possible.”

Michelle rolls her eyes at his not so subtle bragging, “She was obsessed with you. It's creepy. If she wasn't dead, I'd suggest a restraining order.” That gets a legitimate laugh out of Strange.

It's probably about time to go. Even if they haven't spoken much, she got what she wanted out of this. “So as you know, I've got some personal issues to deal with. I'm cashing in all the vacation time I never got to take. It'll be several months or so. You're on your own until then.”

He nods, seemingly having no problem with it. Maybe he really does feel bad about all this.

“Michelle, before you go,” he says before she steps out, “If you'll recall, we had a deal. A bargain we once made. I still plan on upholding my end of that.”

It takes her a while to determine what he's talking about. What feels like ages ago, they had made a deal that if she tried to take up training, he would throw his weight behind her application to Harvard. The reminder is nice since she had forgotten about it long ago. Maybe she can go to college this time around.

_A second chance. Maybe that's all this really is._

With that, Michelle leaves and heads back home. Besides, she's got a date to prepare for.

 

 

 

Being a teenager again isn't so bad. Her night is spent eating more ice cream than should be considered healthy and wandering around the city aimlessly with Peter. Having minimal responsibility is something she needs to milk while it lasts.

Peter takes a bite of his ice cream cone. "So, Morgan Stark."

“Yep. She'll be born near the end of the year.” Michelle almost feels bad for Tony. He's got his hands full. Trying to deal with helping the rogue Avengers get pardoned, getting married to Pepper, and having a daughter. That's a lot all at once.

“Wow.”

"Having trouble wrapping your head around it?"

"A little. I know things were pretty bad then, but is there anything to look forward to? Any big advancements? New gadgets?"

Michelle hums in thought for a moment. She'd rather not spoil the surprise of his own stuff that he'll eventually invent. "The sex was great.”

"W-W-What?" Peter practically trips over himself and starts choking on his ice cream.

"I mean, it was awkward at first-"

"Oh my god."

"-but I have so much to teach you."

"Please stop."

She sighs dramatically, "Alas, that might be too much for right now. We'll get there."

Peter reaches over and takes her free hand in his, "We'll get there."

Michelle should probably stop teasing him before his brain short circuits, but decides to go all-in instead, “Hopefully it won't take too long. Our first time was after I had a near-death experience. I'd rather not do that again.”

“Um.”

“You'll be amazed at how many practical uses your powers have in the bedroom.”

“MJ!”

With a light shriek, Michelle runs away, laughing into the night, as her boyfriend chases after her.

 

 

 

Later that same night, long after finishing their treats and having calmed down from the teasing and running around...

"When are you going to do some training? I'd like to join you next time."

Michelle levels a glare at Peter. She hasn't had her big argument with him yet this time around about going out with him for dangerous stuff, so he must be up to something.

As expected, he raises his hands to defend himself, "Okay, so that was really just a thinly veiled excuse for me to come watch again. Can you blame me?"

"Again? Peter, you've never come with me. I always was with Strange in the Sanctum and he didn't want others hanging around."

"No, that's not true. Just a week or two ago I was watching you practice that spell where you control wind. I think we were out in the field in front of the Avengers compound?"

"That's a little creepy," she points out with a sideways glance at him.

"Hey! I've got an extremely badass girlfriend. Is it so bad that I want to see her at her best?"

_Smooth_. But she can't let him have the victory that easily, so Michelle pretends to contemplate it for a while and nods. "That kind of flattery will get you absolutely everywhere."

Peter seems to internally celebrate. It's cute. She's still a little confused though and asks, "When were we at the Avengers compound? I can't think of any reason we would have been there."

"Hmm. I'm not sure. You might have tagged along when I was working with Mr. Stark on my internship." He keeps thinking on it for a moment before giving up and shrugs.

No. That doesn't sound right...

Wait. Rewind that.

_("Just a week ago I was watching you practice that spell where you control wind.")_

"Peter, I didn't learn the Winds of Watoomb spell until I was 19," Michelle blankly says, her mind already elsewhere, fitting puzzle pieces together.

"Huh?"

Controlling wind.

In front of the Avengers compound.

About a week or two ago.

_That was the time he came out in the field to talk to me. It was the same day Lang showed up and they started working on the time travel stuff in the Avengers hangar. A lot of it went over my head so I went outside to practice._

_("Show-off," Peter says as he approaches. His hands are in his pockets, but there's a fond smile on his face as he approaches.)_

"You called me a show-off," she voices slowly.

"Yeah! You remember it now?"

_He's remembering something. He's actually remembering something. Maybe he hadn't completely died yet when Banner did his snap?_

Michelle carefully broaches it, "That happened in 2023."

"What? No. It was a week or so ago."

"It was 2023 a week ago."

Understanding appears to slowly dawn in his eyes. Michelle gets impatient and holds him by his shoulders and begins rapidly asking questions, "Do you remember anything else from around then? Where did we go after? How did we get there? You must know something else!"

"I-I-I don't know."

"But why this one? Why is this the one thing you remember?" she's shaking him now.

Peter seems almost scared by her reactions, "I'm sorry! I don't know!"

Michelle's pressing him too much and she kind of hates herself for it, but she needs to know. Why this one? "There must be some reason. Please. Just try."

"Okay, okay," Peter placates her and closes his eyes to try and retrace the memory. "I think I was walking out of the compound, but I don't know why I was there. I was upset about something and I was trying to figure out what to do about it. Some big plans fell apart?"

_He's recalling his frustration with the time travel thing coming up right as he was about to propose._

As if he was remembering it at the same time as he was speaking, Peter slowly continues, "When I got outside, you were there in the field doing your thing. You looked so confident. So self-assured and comfortable with who you were. And the way the wind was throwing your hair around made you look really pretty so I stayed back and watched for a little while."

His face crunches in thought, straining to follow the memory. "Then I-" He cuts himself off and his eyes suddenly open and widen in surprise.

Expecting him to continue, Michelle waits, slightly leaning forward in anticipation, but Peter doesn't say anything, seemingly still in shock. "What? What happened next?"

The words are quiet, but sure, "I put my hand in my pocket. There was a small box there."

Oh. _Oh._

"And I held on to it while I watched and kept thinking, 'Yes, this is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.'"

Neither of them speaks, both only lit by the ambient light from the stars above and street lamps. The moment balances on a knife's edge. Not willing to push Peter into something he may not be ready for, Michelle steps closer to him and kisses him, trying to ground him. It works, and he returns it.

Gently, she rests her forehead on his. The words are a repeat from earlier in the night, but they're more serious now. More important. "We'll get there."

She believes it.

There's flickers of excitement in his eyes that weren't there before. "Yeah. We'll get there."

Michelle can wait. After all, that's what he asked of her.

 

 

 

Epilogue:

This is something she's been preparing herself for. Honestly, she's kind of terrified of how this might turn out, but Michelle is pretty certain she'll feel better after this is all over one way or the other.

See, her parents have come home from their business trip and she wants to tell them everything.

There will be some things altered or removed for privacy reasons of course. She won't tell them that Peter is Spider-Man for example or the exact location of the Sanctum (just in case they don't react well). Mostly everything else will be included though.

Stepping out of her bedroom, she sees them on the couch, watching something on TV. Michelle takes a seat on the recliner nearby so she can face both of them, “Mom? Dad?”

Theresa Jones grabs the remote to turn it down, “Something wrong, Michelle?”

“I've got a story I want to tell you. It's kind of long and will take a while, but I promise it's all true. It all started about, I guess you could say 6 years ago.”

And while her mother gasps at the illusion spell used to conjure images as a visual aid, Michelle tells the story of her life ever since she met Stephen Strange.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes Part 5! It's not a perfect happy ending, but I like to think it ends on a hopeful note.
> 
> Will there be a Part 6? No idea! I have a title for it and that's kind of about it. Not even an outline. There are some plot threads I've left dangling that would be neat if I could properly explore and wrap up. For now, I'm marking this series as complete.
> 
> I'd like to thank every one of you that left comments on this as I went. This is the first time I've ever written anything for fun and it has taught me so much about the process. It's been a great ride for me. Hopefully it was for you too.


End file.
